Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!
by Inceptor57
Summary: The World Tournament is upon Ōarai! Ōarai will travel the world and learn the different culture of Tankery while fighting each country's chosen contenders for the top place in the World Tournament exhibition matches! Finally, a battle with nothing at stake from the odds...or is there? [Rated T for language and potentially intense scenes. OC belong to me. I do not own GuP.]
1. Tank Start!

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 1: Tank Start!**

She slept snugly in her apartment. The morning sun shone through the light turquoise shade beside her bed. She cuddled with her Boko bear doll in her sleep. Birds chirped outside.

 _BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP_

The autonomous sound came incessantly from her pink dolphin clock. She sprung into action, "Wah!" she cried as she scrambled through her sheets to turn the alarm off, only to roll off her mattress. Slamming the snooze button, she rushed in making her bed and...

"Oh, right..." She recollected her thoughts. "Heh, I'm not home anymore."

Miho Nishizumi, the youngest daughter of the Nishizumi family, took her time to get ready for school. It's already been a whole year since she first transferred over from Kuromormine. So much has changed since then, a lot of events transpired.

More importantly though, she found her true self, her Sensha-Dou, and friends that helped her find the way.

Miho left her apartment, locking the blue door, and walked to Ōarai Girls High School. The seagulls cawed overhead, cars roll over the paved roads. The sun shined off the walls surrounding houses and apartments. The smell of freshly baked pastries wafted out of the bakeries she passed. "Smells delicious!" Miho excitedly claimed.

A few blocks down, Miho heard a very familiar voice. "Miporin!"

"Saori!" Miho looked over and saw Saori and Hana walking by, with Saori dragging along a half-asleep Mako by the arms. "Good morning!"

"Good morning Miporin!" Saori replied back.

"Good morning Miho" Hana said in her usual polite tone.

"Gaawwdd moooaarrninnng" Mako feebly attempts to respond.

"Don't be like that Mako." Saori nagged onto Mako. "Now let's go, we don't want you to re-earn that tardy count you removed last year do you?"

"Eh, well if you put it that way..."

"Grandma will get mad again, won't she?"

Mako paused in her trail of thought, "...okay, let's go," she says as she put more efforts in dragging her feet. Miho giggled a little on how Mako hasn't changed despite how everything else has.

After all, without everyone's support, they wouldn't even be attending at Ōarai anymore. After all the hard work in the 63rd National High School Sensha-Dou Tournament and the battle with Shimada, its hard to believe that they fought so hard to keep everything the way it was. But for Miho, that was all part of enjoying life, to attend high school without any more disruptions. Is this too part of Sensha-Dou?

"Well, you managed to make it on time you lot," a somewhat gruff voice spoke in front of them.

"Soooodddoooookkkoooooo," Mako lazily said as she lunged towards her for a hug. "I'mmmmm oon timmme toooday y'knoooww?"

"Quit it Mako! And I told you not to call me 'Sodoko'!" Sodoko said to the barely-responsive Mako.

"Yooouu'rrrreee nooooot uusuuually thisss puuuuusshhyyy, Soooodoooookooooo"

"Stop slurring your speech! I can barely understand you!"

"Good morning Sodoko!" Miho said trying to change the subject.

Sodoko sighed, "Everyone is going to call me that huh? Good morning Miho."

Miho giggled again at the sight of Sodoko attempting to get Mako off her. Sodoko had a hard time readjusting to the Morals Committee after Ōarai almost got closed down. A period of time without anything to take control of, or any system to enforce, took a toll on Sodoko's discipline. With all that, Miho was happy to see Sodoko back to her usual old self, even if she's a tad bit more abrasive now.

"Anyways you lot, school is starting soon. I'd suggest yo- Mako get off! You start heading to your classes. Mako! I'm serious!"

"Alright Mako, let's go," Saori said as she pulled Mako off Sodoko and somewhat dragging her inside the school.

School was just like how it was on Miho's first day. Aside from the fact that she was now a third-year, nothing was out of place. There were the new freshmen appearing, the seniors disappearing, and clubs starting their sign-ups for new applicants. That made Miho wonder, will there be anyone joining the Sensha-do club this year? She got excited thinking about having to teach any newcomers the joy of Sensha-do.

Once the classes were over, Miho packed her bags and headed off to the place that has the most meaning to her in the whole school. The tank garage. After the end of the school year, the tanks had been sitting in the garage for almost three months now. Miho raced there from class, but saw someone with the same idea about to bolt before they come face-to-face.

"Ah! Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari beamed with excitement seeing her whole friend.

"Yukari!" Miho returned the joy. Seeing her close friend again.

Yukari bawled over to her, "I was afraid you didn't come back after all, when we have totally different classes... I missed you!"

"Okay Yukari, calm down." Miho soothed her.

"Anyways, you were about to go to the tank garage right?"

"Yeah, it has been a while since we were there."

"Let's walk there together!" Yukari said to her friend. Seeing the whole crew today after the months on break, it made Miho close to tears.

At the tank garage, Miho saw she and Yukari weren't the only ones in the school to have the same idea. "Everyone!"

"Miporin!" Saori shouted in front of the crowd that gathered by the doors of the garage.

"Hey, its Miho!"

"Miho-senpai!"

The crowd continues their greeting. Every team member was here. Anglerfish, Anteater, Duck, Hippo, Leopon, Mallard, Rabbit, and Turtle. The old gang was all here.

"Well, looks like everyone's here!" Anzu said, "And the star of the show has arrived too!"

"Huh?" Miho pondered before realizing everyone was looking at her.

"Yes, you Miho." Anzu clarified. "Remember, without you, none of this would have been possible. Ōarai would've become another lost school to the MEXT. Again, we're thankful for what you have done for us, Miho," Anzu said as she bowed down.

"Ah, no!" Miho flustered, "it was because of all of us!" She collected herself, "I...I couldn't have done it as well without all of you, and the other schools who sent their support."

Anzu's small chuckle came out from the crowd. "That's so like you Miho," Anzu said. Miho smiled with some relief as Anzu continued. "Anyways, we have another announcement to make, everyone!"

Yuzu takes out a parchment. "Today we've received a special letter from the International League."

"Huh?"

"It's got a black circle with a white star on it."

The rest of the Ōarai team were confused, but Miho caught on. "You don't mean...?"

Anzu nodded, "Yep! The International League has sent us a special offer for us to participate in the World Tournament two years from now!"

"Ehhhhh?!" The team cried in unison. What a surprising turn for them all!

"But wait!" Sodoko said, "Why would they send out an invitation that early? Two years?! Some of us might not even be here by that time!"

"Huh, that's right, why would they...?" Some of the team members murmered.

"But that letter and emblem, its an authentic I.L. message right?" Yukari asked Miho.

"Yes, that's how they send their mails. Only by paper, not emails. The mail will be simple with no addressing other than the recipient and the envelope will be sealed by a sticker of a white star in a black circle." Miho replied. "Those letters usually go to the highest schools, sometimes universities, that practice Sensha-Dou. Only a few schools in the world get those letters. Just getting one can warrant unwanted attraction..."

"Miho, did Kuromorimine ever get a letter?" Yukari asked

Miho nodded, "Back when I was a child in the 23rd World Tournament, Kuromormine got one. They were sent around the world to fight the international competitor."

"Did they win?"

"No, they lost in the second round."

"What!? The international schools must be really tough!"

"N-No kidding."

"Alright, listen up you all!" Anzu gathered the Sensha-Dou team's attention. "I know its a bit weird to get this invitation early, but this letter is authentic! The reason lies in its fine print!"

Yuzu cleared her breath as she read out a text.

 _With the tournament two years away from this exact date, we have started are preliminary preparations for the event. As per our untold tradition, the tournament is held every four years by our discretion. In the half-time mark in the time period, we will commence our exhbition matches to showcase the potential contenders in the tournament. As such, you, the recipient of this letter, are invited to participate in these exhibition matches. We understand that due to the long wait periods between tournaments, you must have many uninitiated Tankery members sheltered from the different cultures of Tankery. We allow these matches to enlighten the Tankery practitioners on what Tankery means to the world and to get familiar to this new world for the real event. Though it is not mandatory, your participation is greatly appreciated and encouraged by the International League. We hope you consider our offer and join us and the many different recipients of this invitation to explore the true meaning of Tankery._

Silence as Yuzu finished the paragraph.

"What's Tank-er-y?" Karina asked, confused.

"Like 'fish tank' tank?" Yuuki followed up

"Uh, Tankery is what people outside Japan calls Sensha-Dou," Miho clarifies. "It's the same thing except in English."

"It seems a new challenge has come upon us," Saemonza says.

"But an international tournament against the world... It's almost too big for us!" Azusa concerns.

"Azusa, we've went up against the heaviest tanks Kuromorimine and Pravda has to offer, I think we'll be fine!" Aya replies.

"Y-you mean we-we're going to see other places nya?" Nekota chimes in.

"Team!" Momo shouted, breaking the chatter, "I know this is a bit sudden and surprising. But...I'm going to be honest, this is almost nothing new for us! We can do this!"

"She's right, Ōarai has always been in a disadvantage. The 63rd National High School Sensha-Do Tournament, the fight against University, we're always lacking severely compared to the enemy." Hana says, "but we've haven't lost yet! We can continue with this!"

"Yeah! And this time, nothing bad is at stake this time!" Saori says. "We can go and have fun! Learn about the world! Meet some foreign boys!"

"' _Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning._ _'"_ Erwin chants, "We're not losing anything by a loss, and we will gain either way from this."

"What do you think Miho?" Anzu asks for clarification.

"Uh-um..." Miho ponders as every's attention now shifts towards her. "I think this is great! We should do it!"

Cheers erupt with the unanimous agreement among the entire team.

"Now wait a minute," Sodoko once again, "when are these 'exhibition matches' going to begin?"

Yuzu looks at the letter again, "Well let's see... It seems like the drawing process for the match placement will begin in the start of next month! With the first match commencing a week after that."

"Beginning of next month?!" Sodoko shouted, "You do realize that's only 10 days away right!? We barely got back to school! We may know our training, but we're in no shape to go against big names out there in the world!"

"Sodoko is right," Miho says, "We've been away from our tanks for a long time since the break. We are going to need to refamiliarize ourselves with routines and strategies."

"Yes!" The whole team shouted.

"Um... Let's go out there and kick some butts!" Miho shouted with a hint of encouragement as the garage erupted with "HURRAH!" and the team members disperse to their usual groups into the garage to their tanks.

"Miho, a word?" Anzu got her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Though I think its true that we need to retrain on our tanks, do you think it is enough for the World Tournament?"

Miho paused. "I don't think so. From what I know about the World Tournament, the international culture of Sensha-Dou is very different from how we know it here. There are even new rules among the international community we don't have here. I think we're going to need a more personal hand to get ready for the tournament."

"Hmmm... I guess I'll have to think of something." Anzu said with confidence. "I'll worry about that part okay? We'll just practice as normal today."

Miho smiled before parting. Seeing Anzu and the others still here soothes her, even if it was their last year here. She entered the brick garage housing the tanks and saw everyone tending to their tanks. Checking for any maintenance issues, adjusting track tension, oiling the parts, and airing out the closed interiors from the months of disuse. It took a few hours before each tank was ready to rumble again.

Miho carressed the Panzer IV Ausf. H's long 75 mm barrel as she climbed on. "It's good to be back."

"Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari said in her same estatic voice, "Let's do our best today!"

"I'm ready for more Miporin!" Saori adds.

"My hands are ready to reaffirm the art of Sensha-Do,." Hana chimes in.

"Oi, I'm good," Mako puts her two cents in.

"I'm good too!," Miho affirmed to her team as she climbed into the commander's cupola. standing on top as she watches everyone else get into their crew positions and starting their own tanks. She listend to the engines, the gasoline engines of the StuG III, Panzer IV, Hetzer, M3 Lee, and Char B1; the electric motor on the Tiger (P), the diesel engine on the Type 89 I-Go and Type 3 Chi-Nu. It brought back faint memories back from when she was with her sister riding the Panzer II to go fishing.

The whole team was set as the garage door opened towards the training ground.

"Alright," Miho voiced through her throat microphone, "Panzer Vor!"

* * *

 **Whew!**

 **My first story ever on this site! Ain't that sweet?**

 **I've been having this idea for a Girls Und Panzer story for about five months now after watching "Girls Und Panzer Der Film" and the revelation of a so-called "World Tournament". While it is an undeniable sequel hook for the Girls Und Panzer series, it does give us writers a lot more content to use for our little stories. As a tank enthusiast, the ability to write my own Girls Und Panzer future has always been something in my mind, what with many things I know about tanks and I just want to use that information for something that can maybe make someone's day brighter. I am a new writer though so I apologize if there are certain parts in my overall story that seems "off".**

 **I've got enough content to make a sequel if I wanted to. If. Unfortunately, I am still a college student and school will charge in through a brick wall and send me to Chemistry Class.**

 **Thanks for bearing through my writing. Feel free to Favorite and Follow if you look forward to what's next!**


	2. International Aid

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 2: International Aid**

 _ **Ōarai Student Council Room**_

"Huh? Instructor Ami can't help us this time?" Miho asked.

"Apparently not," Momo replied, "rules in the International League differ from ours. She's not involved with the I.L."

"How are we going to get to know the rules of the World Tournament then? Their letter is unmarked, we can't ask them directly," Yuzu states.

Miho thought about it for a while. "Well if we can't ask them directly, we can try asking around other than them right?"

"What do you mean Miho?" Momo asked.

"Well, when we first got into Sensha-Dou, we asked for a friendly practice match from St. Gloriana right? Maybe there is someone out there willing to spend the time teaching us about this new format."

"Yeah, but its not like we have the right contact information." Momo replied, "Sensha-Dou, or as they know as Tankery, is a very popular sport outside Japan. Hundreds of schools out there practice it, and we can't guarantee any of them even have the time or experience to teach us the right stuff."

"Well, it won't help us if we don't try," Anzu chimes in chewing a dried sweet potato.

"Ah! Well we can ask for references." Miho exclaims.

"What do you mean by that?" Momo asked

"Well, if we want to find the right foreign school to learn from, we just have to find the ones that have experience training smaller schools."

"How do you propose we find that?" Yuzu asked.

"Well..." Miho replied, "it's not like Japan is short of foreign-affiliated schools..."

Silence fills the student council room.

"Haaaa," Momo sighs, "why didn't I think about that?" she says, hand to her forehead as she didn't see the simple solution.

"Hey, Yuzu, set up a phone call right now."

"Uh, sure Anzu, but to who?"

* * *

 _ **St. Gloriana - Tea Balcony**_

"I must congratulate you for receiving the invitation to the World Tournament. You must feel honored."

"Yes Darjeeling, it really is. I'm still surprised by it to be honest." Miho says in the other end.

Darjeeling sips a bit of her jasmine tea. "Well Miho, the stunts that Ōarai have pulled this last year alone is well enough to earn quote a reputation in the international community."

"Huh, was it that significant?"

"Miho, a school going against all odds and saving itself is of more caliber than a simple Sensha-Dou match."

"Oh"

"Anyways, I don't suppose you called me today just to tell me about your invitation letter?"

"Yes, that, uh Darjeeling, do you happen to know anyone willing to help us learn the international 'Sensha-Dou'?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it. I do in fact."

"Really?"

"Yes, the school helped St. Gloriana earn its root we're known for today."

"Even the tea thing in the tanks?"

"Even the tea thing in the tanks."

"Can you please help us get into contact with this school? We really need to get familiar with the foreign Sensha-Dou if we want to stand a chance."

Darjeeling lightly chuckled, "Alright Miho, I'll ask them about it then send you the details about them. But Miho, do you know this proverb? 'There is no such thing as a free lunch'."

"...huh?"

"I mean that you might just owe us one after this."

"O-oh...that's fine!"

Darjeeling smiled again, "Well, I hope you have a nice day Miho."

"You too! Good bye!"

Darjeeling hangs up on her cell phone and flips it close.

"So...Ōarai manages to gain the attention of the International League?" Assam spoke.

"Indeed. This may be the first time a relatively unknown school got picked up by the I.L."

"Darjeeling-sama," Orange Pekoe chimes in, "what do you hope to gain from Ōarai with this favor? You didn't ask for anything when we fought in that practice match with them."

"Nothing really, but it may come in handy if Ōarai should need more of our assistance," Darjeeling assured.

"Huh?"

"Please don't worry about it Pekoe. Do you know the proverb 'Never look a gift horse in the mouth'?"

"...No?"

"Well, it's abou-"

"DARJEELING-SAMAAAA!" A cry came out as the door to the balcony they are on slams open. Assam and Pekoe nearly losing their composure and spilling their tea. A certian redheaded girl started running towards the tea table.

"Hello Rosehip." Darjeeling nonchalantly says as she takes another sip.

"I HEARD SOME OF THAT! IS IT TRUE THAT ŌARAI GOT TH-" Rosehip was about to finish before Darjeeling, in almost a blink, placed her tea cup down and cupped her empty hand over Rosehip's mouth.

"Rosehip, you do know that the I.L. invitation is not a topic suppose to be spoken out loud to the public correct?"

Rosehip removed herself from Darjeeling's hands, "I'm sorry Darjeeling-sama! It was a slip of tongue!"

"Stop shouting, I'm right in front of you."

"Right."

"Anyways, if you will excuse me, I have to put in a phone call." Darjeeling says as she takes out her flip phone.

Rosehip engages a conversation with Pekoe and Assam, "So what else did I miss anyways?"

"Well, Ōarai wants our help to get familiar with Tankery, so Darjeeling-sama is calling _him_ to help us," Pekoe says.

" _Him?_ You don't mean Montgomery do you?"

"Yes," Assam says, "he should still be in the cadets, so this should work."

"Huh," Rosehip lamented, "This just keeps getting better and better."

* * *

 _ **Next Day**_

"Alright you lot! Listen up!" Momo hollered to the Sensha-Dou team in the garage. "Today we've found a school willing to help us out in the World Tournament!"

"Yes!"

"That's great!"

Cries such as those came from the team.

"However, this school is in England, so that means Ōarai Girls' Academy is about to take a cruise trip there. We should get the approval later today and arrive in about three days." The crowd murmered about this trip they are taking. "And don't worry about us missing the drawing period for the tournament, they are actually holding it in Britain as well!"

"Quite convenient if you ask me!" Anzu piped up.

"With that, we have these time to hone our skills and prepare ourselves for the new culture there." Momo continues on, "familiarize yourselves with English, learn some courtesy, know what is considered taboo and what is approved."

The team discussed among each other about this. Yes, some can speak English but not all. Miho puts a mental note to emphasize English familiarization now that they are headed to the World Tournament.

"Alright, meeting adjourned! Get back to practicing!" Momo shouted, and everyone dispersed.

Miho was headed back to the Panzer IV when Yukari grabbed her by her left shoulder.

"I can't believe we're headed to England, there's so much thing I want to see there!"

"I didn't know you liked England that much," Saori queried, "are there lots of cute boys there!?"

"Huh? No! Well, I don't know," Yukari says. "I'm excited because tanks were born in England! That's where they came from! Their concept, their utility, their names, that kind of stuff. Not to mention they have the biggest tank museum in the world at Bovington!"

"Why am I not surprised," Saori pouted.

"Yeah! Tanks were made during World War I when the Allied forces needed a way to cross the no-man's land between the great trenches. Their answer were large moving fortresses on caterpillar tracks with guns!"

"Yes, to think that we're going to the place where tanks were born to learn about the foreign culture of Sensha-Dou has a nice ring to it huh?" Miho says.

"There's certainly a correlation there." Hana says.

"I hope grandma will be okay," Mako worries.

"Oh right, we'll be leaving Ōarai behind." Miho realizes. Not all of their family member lives on the school carrier.

"She'll be fine Reizei," Saori comforts Mako, brushing her head whilst talking.

"Anyways, we should get going. Everyone's got their tanks running." Hana points out as she climbs into the gunner's hatch.

"C'mon Reizei." Saori says as she pulls herself into the radio operator's position. Reizei followed in the driver's hatch.

"Nishizumi-dono! Let's do our best today!" Yukari exclaims.

"Yes! Let's us all!" Miho replies. Standing in the commander's cupola. She puts on her throat mic and says "Panzer Vor!"

The Panzer IV roars to life as it follows the other tanks out the garage into the practice field. Another day of tank gunnery and mock battles are onto them!

Miho analyzes each team's performance in the training. Duck team is as rash as ever, charging their Type 89 I-Go into closer than comfortable ranges to take a shot. Miho wonders how Leopon team manages to make the Type 89 run that fast without tipping off anyone during the 63rd Tournament, but that's all in the past now. Speaking of Leopon, their Tiger Porsche still runs magnificently with the amount of care they give it. The hybrid engine was the main reason why the Tiger (P) wasn't accepted for usage in the Wehrmacht, but the crew made it work. They needed to make it work, the 8.8 cm KwK 36 cannon is the most powerful weapon in Ōarai's line-up. Hippo team are using StuG III Ausf. F quite conservatively, like a good tank destroyer. They fired at the targets from up to 2 kilometers now and get accurate hits due to the 7.5 cm StuK 40 cannon. Rabbit and Mallard team have been learning how to engage at two different targets at once with their double cannons, a feat that may become important against a numerous foe. Turtle team, like Hippo, also tries to fire from a long range with its 7.5 cm PaK 39 cannon, however with Momo behind the trigger, none of their shot connects. Anteater team is still showing off their strength they've gained before the match with University, Momonga ferociously pulling the steering levers on their Type 3 Chi-Nu to make some improbable turns and Piyotan reloading very quickly.

Finally, Anglerfish team is still doing well in a balanced role. The Panzer IV does not disappoint with its average armor and speed, yet can face most threats with its powerful 7.5 cm KwK 40 cannon. Mako continues to prove as their best driver by making quick response turns and positioning so Hana can get a shot off. The shots have become more consistent up to 2 km as well, though Miho notes that 2 km is beyond an optimal engagement range for the Panzer IV and should only be done when both target and shooter are stationary. Yukari has gotten a lot better in reload times, a reload with a ready round can be placed in just three seconds most. With all the team's performance plus Anglerfish, it feels like Ōarai Sensha-Dou team is back how it was last year against the odds with nothing more than the training skills on their back.

At the end of the day, the entire team cleans and maintain their tanks back at the garage. Its never easy, all the mud needs to be wiped away to prevent any erosion or suspension jams. Track tension has to be checked to prevent any walk-offs. Oil and any fluids needed by the engine and transmission is checked and filled. One of the unspoken part of Sensha-Dou. Back in the past, the entire team usually leave most of the work to the maintenance crew of Leopon, but they've taken steps to learn the basics to save them some workload. Call it a team camaraderie spirit.

"So Miho, what do you think?" Anzu somehow crept up to Miho's side. "Do you think we'll survive out in the world? I think we're pretty good now, but what's your take?"

Miho looks at Anzu. Those eyes reminded her of the ones she used to have the team join the 63rd National Tournament. Miho simply smiled, "We did great today. But I won't be able to tell until I see some of the world does Sensha-Dou."

"I see, well thats still reassuring." Anzu says, "by the way, we've gotten our approval to make the trip by MEXT. You probably didn't realize it, but we've already set sailed about two hours ago."

"Wow really? They've gotten more efficient haven't they?" Miho asked.

"I guess they decided that life is a lot easier for them if they don't disagree with us," Anzu smirked as she said that. "It's nice to be appreciated for a change."

Miho thought about that, how Ōarai must've been one of MEXT's gutter schools, slated to be closed down an scrapped. Now they have become a school seen on headlines at home. Was it all her? No, it was the entire team's effort that Ōarai is where it is now.

"Look at them Miho," Anzu says. "They're all having fun. Isn't that what Sensha-Dou is about? Having fun while competing in friendly competitions? Our last two major competitions were anything but fun because of what was riding on us, but now we can take things easy. Take things slow one-by-one."

"Yeah..." Miho though back in the 63rd National Tournament and the battle against University. The tension beneath her rumbled at those time, with the fate of the school hanging on her actions. She could hardly call those times "fun", but now maybe she can get the true Sensha-Dou experience.

Another hour past before everything was all cleaned and set up. In the twilight, the student council gathered everyone together. "And so thats that! We've set sail for England!" The whole team was ecstatic. Sodoko, the usual objector, couldn't say much against an approval from MEXT. Everyone was excited about what to expect from the foreign land. What kind of food did they have? What kinds of car do they drive? Would there be any special greetings they need to know?

"Get familiar with country and the basic language. We won't be there for very long, but we are there to improve our Sensha-Dou for the World Tournament! If we win, we will set ourselves on the world stage as one of the best practicioner of Sensha-Dou!" Momo shouted.

"Now now Momo," Anzu butts in, "thats not the point of the exhbition match at all, the World Tournament isn't even here yet remember?"

"Oh, right..." Momo deflates.

"But what's important is that we all enjoy it this time okay?" Anzu reaffirms, "We're not here to save anyone's skin today, we're doing this to show how we, Ōarai, do our Sensha-Dou! Okay!?"

"Okay!" The crowd recites.

"Alright, you're all dismissed! Have a great evening everyone! See you tomorrow!"

* * *

 **Gasp!**

 **A same day chapter update? From an overworked college student? What blasphemy is this? It's like he's procrastinating from his studies because he's got nothing better to do. Oh noes!  
**

 **Anyways, that's next chapter up. Chapter 3 may take a while because I want it to actually be a bit longer than ~2K words. Or who knows, maybe I can get the message across in shorter ways.**

 **Thanks for bearing through my writing. Feel free to Favorite and Follow if you look forward to what's next!**


	3. An English Greetings

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 3: An English Greetings**

 **On the deck of Ōarai school carrier,**

"Come quick Miho! You can see the shore from here!" Saori shouts out. The girls were observing over the rails on the starboard side of their school carrier. Three days of travel has landed the school on a whole new world for them.

"Wow! It's pretty! Reminds me of home!" Hana exclaims as she marvels the sight.

"It's really bright..." Mako simply complains.

Miho marveled at the horizon. It was nothing she's seen before.

"Attention all Ōarai students!" the intercom began speaking, "we have arrived at Portsmouth, England!"

"Wow!" Yukari looked out as well, "You can see how busy it is from here! Look at all the tiny people!"

"Maybe I can find some cute boys finally!" Saori said.

Miho giggled at her friend's reaction to England. It was moments away before they started docking. She looked at the various ships sailing about when something caught her eye. "Hey, that carrier right there, isn't that St. Gloriana?"

"Huh?" Her friends responded.

"Now that I see it, yeah, that's St. Gloriana's flag!" Yukari analyzed.

"I wonder what they want here?" Hana wonders.

"Maybe they're here to help us through with this school we're going to talk to?" Miho suggests.

"But do they need to drag their entire ship along too?" Mako says.

"I guess we'll find out when we anchor at shore..." Miho concludes at that note.

* * *

 **In front of the tank garage, Ōarai school carrier,**

"Huh? Ferries?" Ōarai Sensha-Dou team responded, gathered by the student council for a meeting.

Anzu explains, "Portsmouth port isn't exactly a carrier-based port. It's for ferries and we're way too big to fit into the port entrance. So we're going to be riding to land on ferries they've sent out. This isn't a new thing, there are still lots ports in the world unable to accommodate our school carrier."

"Isn't there another port we could've landed at?" Caesar points out.

"There are, but Portsmouth is the closest to the destination we are going to go to for our meeting with the school, plus its also nearby the International League's meeting place for the tournament drawings," Momo explains. "Plus we save money on docking since only a small number of students want to get off and see the land."

"Basically us," Anzu clarifies.

The teams began to chatter amongst themselves with this new information before Momo continues, "Alright, the ferries are due in a few hours, we have to prepare our tanks for loading onto them when they arrive."

"We need our tanks?" Miho was surprised by this.

"The school asked us to bring them. Who knows? Maybe they want to engage in a mock battle." Anzu replies.

"Hey, what is this 'school' anyways? Who are they?" Yukari asked to which murmer began on the same question.

"Well according to what Darjeeling from St. Gloriana told me, these people are cadets from the Army Cadet Force of UK." Yuzu responded.

"Wait, cadets?! We're meeting with military-affiliated organizations?" Saori cried out in surprise.

"It appears so, but don't worry. They're still Sensha-Dou users just like us! Just in a different culture and world." Momo reassures them, "There's no reason to see them any different because they are in the military. Remember Ami is in the JSDF and she's a very well skilled Sensha-Dou practitioner."

The team talked again about this new development. Even Miho was surprised to hear that the so-called school they were headed to just might be an army base. She puts her faith in though, after all they were the one who suggested these people.

"If we are all done, prepare your tanks to move out!" Anzu shouted excitedly. "Move them down to the lower dock area via the elevator on the starboard side of the carrier, we'll load them into the ferries via the loading bay!"

* * *

 **Ferry #2 - Portsmouth, England**

"Wow! It's even cooler up close!" Azusa says while on top of Rabbit's M3 Lee. Two ferries came for Ōarai's tanks and they were loaded in at carrier's interior docks. The first one received the Tiger (P), Type 3 Chi-Nu, Panzer IV, and the Hetzer while the second one took the StuG III, Char B1, Type 89, and the M3 Lee. "The buildings are all so different than from Japan!"

"Some of those buildings don't have spaces between them, no alleys?" Aya notes.

"They're all made of bricks too!" Yuuki notices.

"Won't that actually make it great in Sensha-Dou matches? If the buildings around here are built to last, even the 37 mm will have trouble blasting through!" Karina said.

"I don't think anyone would appreciate their house being blown up either way Karina…" Ayumi said.

"Well girls, the only way we're going to find out what they think of Sensha-Dou is when we arrive at the ports…" Azusa said reassuringly, she notes that Saki nods her head in silence. Land was still a distance, but it won't be long now.

Duck Team was playing on the ferry with a volleyball they managed to sneak in their Type 89. "Hey, do you think we can find some good volleyball players here?" Noriko said.

"Mmm.. I don't know," Taeko said. "Even if we did, it's not like we can have them join our club…"

"Oh, right,"

"Couldn't we just have them do a foreign transfer?" Akebi points out.

"Hey, that's right! Maybe we can get some members that way!" Shinobu said. "A chance is better than none at all!"

"And we're going around the world too…" Noriko said, "the potentials are endless! Even if only one joins, that's a big improvement over our entire time in Japan! All we need is willpower, faith, and…"

"GUTS!" They all said in unison.

Sodoko, Gomoyo, and Pazomi were playing cards on their Char B1 as they listen to the other team banter about England.

"What do you think about England Sodoko?" Pazomi started.

"England? I have no comment." Sodoko said.

"It is a beautiful country, a change of pace," Gomoyo said.

"Well, that is fine, but remember, we have to keep this team in line when on land. We can't have them just running around. Our cell phones would be down because our cell services don't do international."

"Hmm.." Gomoyo thought about it, "Well maybe we should find something before the World Tournament starts then."

"Yep!"

Then on the StuG III, Hippo team were focused sitting on their StuG III and analyzing the land.

"So this is England..." Erwin said. "I wonder what Rommel would say if he saw it now…"

"I wonder what anyone back then would think when they see how far humanity's gone." Caesar said.

"Maybe they'd think we've become complacent." Saemonza said, "it's been rather peaceful in the world for how long now? People focus more on improving little things that could be destroyed in the instance of war."

"The Blitz huh?" Oryou mentioned, "Maybe it's the little thing we should just worry about…"

"Maybe its for the best, until the time comes."

* * *

 **Ferry #1 - Portsmouth, England**

"So what's St. Gloriana doing here anyways Prez?" Momo asked.

"Beats me, they never mentioned anything about that in the follow-up." Anzu said.

"Maybe they just want to visit England with us," Yuzu suggested, "they do follow their culture."

"I don't know, I wouldn't worry about it too much. It's all friendly gestures from here on right? No deals, no gambles, we're just playing along with the exhibition matches."

Momo smiled, "Yeah, you're right. Ōarai's safe now. No need to worry about the fine details."

"Anyways, Yuzu, we got anymore of that dried sweet potatoes?"

Turtle team continued on while Anteater team were busy on their smartphones. Playing a certain tank game app. Unfortunately, the game's graphics drains their phone's batteries so they jury-rigged their Type 3 Chi-Nu with a small generator for the purposes of powering their portable devices while remaining Sensha-Dou legal due to not affecting the Type 3's performances.

"Hey, this place looks a lot like that one map right?" Momoga mentions.

"Now that you mention it… yeah…. It looks the same." Nekota says.

"It could be that all European design look the same." Piyotan says, "and its not like England will tear down perfect buildings just because they're no longer following their rules…"

"Either way, maybe we can find a general layout in the town. If there is a pattern… we can use that in the game!" Momoga says.

"Maybe...maybe…." Nekota responds.

The crew of Leopon were busy making sure their Tiger (P) was in good condition after the short ride from the garage to the ferry. The engine, drive, suspension, tracks, gun, radio, and all that were double checked for functionality. It was busy work and a testament of their skills, as well as the Tiger (P)'s failing in its practical value in the battlefield.

But all that never bothered the mechanics, they enjoyed it and were concerned about something entirely different.

"You think we can get an Aston Martin here?" Suzuki asked.

"Are you being unfaithful to our Toyota?" Satoko said.

"I'm just saying, if we're here and have the funds, we can just buy it here and not worry about shipping and exports. Just think about it, a pure Aston Martin!"

"I don't know," Hoshino said, "Aston Martins just may break our wallets. Plus, the Toyota is upgradeable."

"Well, if we can't buy a whole Aston Martin, maybe we can buy an engine!" Tsuchiya suggested, "pop that sucker into our Toyota, then rev it up!"

"Heh, that's worth a shot!" Suzuki beamed, "We keep the Toyota, but make it run better than ever!"

"I'm down for that," Satoko said.

"Alright, that's one for the bucket list here!"

Anglerfish team were enjoying some snacks that Saori cooked up before the trip. They listened to some of the team's energetic talks about England. "Everyone's fired up huh?" Miho notes.

"I am too Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari says, "Did you know that about 100 km to the west of Portsmouth is the Bovington Tank Museum?"

"A tank museum?" Saori asked, "They have a dedicated tank museum out here?"

"Oh yeah," Yukari explains, "Japan doesn't have much to speak of because we were pretty crap in World War II. At that time, the Europeans were pretty crazy on tank technology."

"So that's why the Type 89 performs so bad…" Saori says.

"And also the Type 3 Chi-Nu is one of their 'better' tanks."

"Isn't the Type 3 Chi-Nu only on par with the Shermans?" Hana asked.

"Yep! But we're not even sure on that because the Type 3 never fired a shot at a Sherman. They were all left in Japan to defend against the Americans in case of Operation Downfall." Yukari says, "but we all know what happened from there."

Miho sees Yukari's enthusiastic self and can't help but smile as her friend indulges herself on the one topic she knows most about.

"So what about the tank museum?" Saori asks Yukari, "What makes it so special than holding tanks?"

"It's the largest collection of tanks in the world! They have a vehicle from every aspect of tank history, going as far as World War I!"

"I'd say it earns a title for culture preservation already then," Hana says. "Oh look, we're almost on land."

Miho looks over the ferry's forward direction and sees that land is indeed only a few hundred meters now. Then the tank radios came up with Anzu's voice.

"Attention everyone! We're almost on land. Start your engines and prepare for to disembark!"

After cleaning up Saori's food, Anglerfish headed into their Panzer IV. Standing up from the commander's cupola, Miho observes the rest of the team head into their tanks as Mako starts the engine. Hatches open, they waited for the ferry to reach the port.

"Heh, Miho," Yukari said over the radio, "doesn't it feel like we're about to invade England when we land like this?"

"Operation Sea Lion huh?" Miho notes. "Well we're not at war Yukari so you can rest easy."

It's not long before the ferry came to a full stop. The loading ramp in front came down.

"Panzer Vor!" Miho said over the tank's intercom and the Panzer IV roars its engine and moves the tracks. The other team follows the Panzer IV. On ferry 2, which landed to the side of the first one, the team also began moving past the downed ramp.

* * *

 **Portsmouth, England**

The tanks rumbled onto the concrete port. Some of the workers on land directed the tank's direction with their hands. The eight tanks clattered in a two by four formation as they were directed to a side of the port. They ended up at a train yard, a rather busy one and she tries to make sure their tanks don't crush anything. In a distance, she sees three more tanks on shore already. Upon a closer look, she can make out a Churchill , Crusader Mk. III, and a Matilda , all with a St. Gloriana emblem.

"Looks like St. Gloriana beat us to it Miho!" Saori said over the intercom.

"Yes, but it seems like we're joining them." Miho says. After maneuvering, steering, turning. The eight Ōarai tanks have stopped right next to the St. Gloriana tanks. A person, his uniform spelling out authority on the port, stepped towards the the newly arrived tanks. Anzu climbed out of her Hetzer to meet this man.

"I'm going to need to see your tankery registration and visa miss." The man said.

"I've got the papers here, Anzu said as she pulled them out for him to inspect.

"What business you have here? World Tournament's still a while from now."

"We're here on a field trip," a voice came out to the right. Darjeeling has come out, with tea in hand, and talking to the man.

"Heavy equipments for a field trip isn't this?" The man replied.

"Indeed, but we are expected." Darjeeling said.

"By whom?"

"Montgomery of the 3rd RTR in the cadets." Darjeeling said. When she said this, Miho noted that the man seemed to be stunned.

"W-Well, even if what you say is true, I can't let you leave the ports without his presence then."

"I understand sir."

"Alright, you ladies have fun on your 'field trip' then," the man said before departing. Anzu and Darjeeling stayed there before Miho decided to check on what was up.

"What happened there?" Miho asked.

"He's with the Border Force. He's only doing his job making sure we're here legally. What with our tanks and all." Darjeeling replied as she turns to Miho. "and how are you Miho?"

"Uh, I'm doing fine! How about you Darjeeling? I haven't seen you since that match with University."

"Oh, I'm doing fine myself Miho," Darjeeling states. "Yes, it has been a while huh?"

"What brings you to England?" Anzu asked.

"Well, I simply can't allow a friend to arrive here in an unknown place without guidance could I? I'll help you through with this school here."

"Oh, thank you Darjeeling" Miho says.

"I am only doing what any friend would do."

"So this Montgomery guy," Anzu starts, "We're meeting him here?"

"Yes, he says he should arrive shortly," Darjeeling said, "Though I expected him to get here before you showed up."

"Ah, it's alright, we're still trying to get used to this new atmosphere."

"Yeah, its really neat here. Is it like this in St. Gloriana too?"

"There are some differences, but the atmosphere is similar," Darjeeling said as she sipped some tea.

The trio continued talking and by this point, the other team were getting out of their tanks and chattering around, checking stuff out around the place. Soon a train came in, full of flat cars and in the front by the engine were two passenger cars. "Train transport for our tanks huh?" Anzu said.

It was then a man stepped out of one of the passenger cars. He is wearing a brown shaded beret and wearing some woodland camouflage, a flag on his left arm sleeve and some patches on his right. He looks no older than 18.

"Hey, he's pretty hot," Saori said as he stepped out and walked over. He approached towards Darjeeling, Anzu, and Miho. He was tall, at least a good half-feet above her.

The man casually gestures to Darjeeling, "Darjeeling, it's been a while."

"Yes it has Montgomery," Darjeeling replied.

He then turns to Miho and Anzu, "And you must be the guests from Ōarai correct?" He says.

"Uh, yes! I'm Miho Nishizumi!" Miho said.

He seemed surprised when Miho gave her name, but he regained his composure and gave a warm smile while extending his hand, "Welcome to Britain, I am Cadet Regimental Sergeant Major John Montgomery of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, I hope you'll have a wonderful time here."

"Oh, uh, thanks! I hope I will too!" Miho says nervously as she shakes his hand. "Um, Montgomery, are you related to the same..."

Montgomery smiled, "Some information are best kept a secret right Miho?" He says as he releases his grip in the handshake. "We'll first start by getting off this port. Load your tanks onto the flat beds. Don't worry, they're rated to take Challenger 2's. Head into the passenger cars once you've finished."

"O-Okay!" Miho said as he turned to return.

"Alright everyone!" Anzu shouted, "start it up! We're moving the tanks onto those transporters!"

"Rosehip, Rukuriri, get your tanks ready for movement." Darjeeling relayed to her team.

In about 30 minutes, the loading process was completed and everyone was gathered inside the passenger cars. They were quite luxurious in the arrangement, with red velvet passenger seats and atmosphere. The seats were large too, able to hold three people facing each other maximum facing each other. While the teams were all scattered around fancying the new sight, Miho was sat with Anzu and Darjeeling, across from them was Montgomery and some woman in the same uniform as Montgomery The woman was fairly young, almost around Miho's age, she had on a very cheerful smile and an atmosphere of naivety. She had a strange hair color blend of coffee brown and blonde yellow, and with a shoulder strap bag over her left shoulder.

"New rails Montgomery?" Darjeeling asked, "These weren't here reaching to the port last time I checked..."

"Yep, completely new!" Montgomery said with a smile. "It's a pain to have to use trucks for each individual tank we bring out, so we appealed for the League to sponsor a new rail for us a few years back. Now we've got a wider gauge rail just for the cadets to use for going straight form the training grounds to the port.

"And the League paid to have this passenger car imported in too Montgomery?" Darjeeling asked.

"Oh don't worry about it," Montgomery said, "We just pawned them off a line from Germany. Not like they were using it... Ah, yes I almost forgot. This here is my second-in-command, Cadet Sergeant Major Emma Brooke."

"Hi! I'm Brooke! A pleasure to meet you all!" She says excitingly with a small gesture of greeting.

"Um, nice to meet you too," Miho said, bowing her head.

"Anyways, let's get down to business.," Montgomery said. "From what I heard, Miho, you need some help with Tankery."

"Ah, yes! My school , Ōarai Girls Academy, was invited to the World Tournament two years from now, but… I'm don't know much about the practices the world has that's different from Sensha-Dou, so I'm hoping you will help me."

Montgomery looked at Miho incredulously, then to Darjeeling, "Darjeeling, you never mentioned that Ōarai received a letter from the I.L."

"Was it important with the content of the request?" Darjeeling responded.

He started laughing, "Ha! Still, I shouldn't be surprised that the letter would end up in the hands of 'The Legend'."

"The Legend?" Miho questioned the term.

Montgomery didn't seem to hear Miho's confused statement, "Well that's bloody fantastic. Here I thought they wanted a refresher on how the world worked! Now I see they're learning how to take down the world's competition instead!" He recomposed himself, "But I'll help you lots out. After all, beating an opponent with no idea how the world views Tankery is no different from beating a complete novice."

"So Montgomery," Anzu starts, "What can you tell us about Tankery?"

"Well, I don't want to explain it to everyone of you individually, so I'll take you out to the perfect place to explain Tankery from the core."

"Where?" Miho asked.

"At our training grounds at the Bovington Tank Museum."

* * *

 _ **Building up to the PLOT!**_

 **Tad bit longer than usual, but it's gonna get better. I hope. I tried my best basing some of the aspects of Britain from what I find on google and stuff. I'm sure there are some culture mistakes and it will bound to get worse when I get other countries involved. But you can help out if you point them out to me and I'll fix them if I can. Also remember that this is a fictional world where schools are held on AIRCRAFT CARRIERS.**

 **Thanks for bearing through my writing. Feel free to Favorite and Follow if you look forward to what's next.**

 ***Edit*: I missed a few details I should've added in this chapter. It should be good now.**

 ***Edit 2*: Someone brought up an interesting detail I didn't know about British rails. Apparently the rails in Britain are very narrow so not tank-friendly. I added a justification into this chapter.**


	4. Histories, Cultures, and Legends

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 4: Histories, Cultures, and Legends**

 **Bovington Camp - Bovington, England**

"Wow!" Yukari says as she looked out the passenger window, "It really is Bovington!" The train had pulled into the station and was gradually coming to a stop. "I've only seen this place in magazines!"

Miho could see it too. She only ever heard about this place from her mother back in Kuromorimine. She never thought that she'd actually be in THE tank museum of the world. "You guys are stationed in a museum?" Miho asks Montgomery.

"Actually no, we're stationed at Bovington Camp. We're actually in it right now. It's more like the museum is inside the camp." Montgomery explained. "See, some of the vehicles in the museum still belong to the Royal Army, so the camp here is to allow us to train new recruits on the history of tanks and all the stuff that comes with it like operation and maintenance."

He says, but really the whole train trip had been nothing more than a culture osmosis for the Ōarai school girls. Montgomery and Brooke talked about the English society and culture as they passed by some landmarks on the rail. Miho tried asking about Tankery, but they said to hold it until they reached Bovington.

"I hate repeating," Montgomery answered when Anzu asked why wait. What with 33 students here, perhaps he just wants to explain it altogether rather than just to Miho.

The train came to a full stop and the doors of the passenger car opens. "Alright, exit in orderly fashioned girls," Anzu says to the car she is in.

As they got out onto the train station, Miho notes the number of cranes and different mechanical equipment available in their stop. Definitely a station more worthy of heavy equipment and vehicles than passengers. She also notes that among the all the equipment around were people, people working and with the same uniform as Montgomery and Brooke. Mostly men, but there were some women among them too. All but a few couldn't be much older than 18. There was a man much older than them all with a more elaborate camouflage and was barking orders, probably their commander?

Montgomery got off the train and went over to that man. Montgomery saluted first, definitely a sign that the older man was of a more senior status, saluting back.

"Instructor, I have returned with the guests." Montgomery said to him. The instructor scanned the girls unloading off the passenger car.

"These girls? Huh, well they better be worth the time Sergeant."

"Instructor, I must inform that these girls are from Ōarai. That brunette girl next to the tiny red-head is Miho Nishizumi herself."

"The Nishi-?" The instructor said in disbelief. He took a close attention on Miho.

"U-um," Miho says, still not too comfortable being cast into the spotlight.

"Who's he calling 'tiny red-head'?" Anzu grits.

The instructor focused back at Montgomery, "Well, perhaps this will be an interesting week. So they're here for an overview on Tankery correct?"

"Correct. With your permission Instructor, I wish to take the guests and Brooke into the Tank Museum and give them the break down."

"Permission granted. I'll handle to unloading here. Don't worry about it Sergeant."

"Thank you Instructor!" Montgomery says, saluting. The instructor salutes back and Montgomery breaks off back to the school girls as the Instructor barks off orders to the others people working there.

"So what's up?" Brooke says to Montgomery.

"We're taking these girls onto a tour." Montgomery said.

"Tour?" Miho asked.

"Yep, inside the Tank Museum."

"WHAT!?" A cry came out among the crowd. Miho recognizes that voice as Yukari, sighing with a hint of amusement.

"Well, what better way to explain the history of our Tankery than to go along with the evolution of tanks?" Montgomery explained. "The curator should still be there and it's not a busy day for the museum."

"Does this mean I'm helping along with the tour?" Brooke asked Montgomery."

"Yes."

"Oh boy!"

The girls were all excited about this. A tank museum? Visit? Miho knows about the significance of the Tank Museum, there'd be a lot of amazing and rare artifacts inside for them all to see.

"Huh," Anzu said, "This is an interesting development."

"Well, if this is what they think is the best way to teach us about Tankery…" Momo said. She was slightly annoyed at how casual Montgomery was taking them through this. She expected a straightforward lesson, but most of the time on the train was wasted on less important stuff for Ōarai.

"What about you Darjeeling?" Montgomery asked. "Will your team be accompanying them into the museum?"

"I-"

"DARJEELING-SAMA, Lets! I've never been in the Tank Museum." Rosehip shouted loudly near Darjeeling's face.

"Rosehip. Do you know why you are never invited to formal events?" Darjeeling said with a voice of a sharpened knife.

"B-because I'm loud and obnoxious…?" Rosehip meekly replied.

"Yes," Darjeeling said. Rosehip shirked back to silence. "Please mind your manners Rosehip. Anyways Montgomery, my team and I would gladly accompany with you to the museum."

"Tots, let's go!" Montgomery said as he started walking.

"No car?" A voice in the crowd, Nekonya, could be heard. The walk to the museum was across a large field and was quite a distance away.

"C,mon. Where are your strong Tanker legs?" Montgomery simply replied.

"Wait, what about our tanks?" Miho asked, looking at the 11 tanks still on the flatbed cars.

"My comrades will help you unload them," Montgomery said, pointing at the uniformed men and women in the train yard. "Don't worry, they're not going to touch anything."

"Oh."

"Anyways, let's go!"

* * *

 **The Tank Museum - Bovington, England**

"And here we are at the entrance," Montgomery said as they approach the large orange building. A Challenger 1 stood in the front as a gate guardian.

"Wow! A Challenger 1 Main Battle Tank!" Yukari said.

"Yep! Challenger 1!" Brooke says in the same excited tone as Yukari. They both can't seem to contain their excitement.

Montgomery opened the entrance and everyone flooded in after him. The interior architecture was amazing and well-constructed with the light reflecting off the white roof and illuminating the exhibition hall through the entrance windows. As the girls gape with awe, Montgomery was over by the entrance desk talking with the staff there.

"Wow! I can see a Cromwell here!"

"What's that car next to it?"

"Hey, isn't that a Centurion?"

Those words came out of the girls looking out into the exhibition hall through the window. Anglerfish and the student council seemed to be the most composed in this room at the moment.

"It's a lovely place," Hana notes on the interior designing.

"It really is," Saori says. "Man, these countries take these things really seriously huh?"

"Nishizumi-dono! Isn't this amazing!? Look at all those tanks! You'll never see such a collection anywhere else," Yukari yammers.

"Well, there's that place in France…" Miho mentioned.

"Alright, calm down girls. We see these tanks a lot during the tournament and matches! We ride some of these tanks. There's nothing that you need to go all crazy about," Momo said.

Something ticked off in Yukari. "Nothing to be crazy about!?" These tanks aren't just some cheap reproduction being churned off from corporation. These are _authentic, real_ tanks made for the purpose of war! Nothing is fake about these, nothing artificial! These are real historical artifacts!"

"That is true," Montgomery said as he came from behind the group. Miho turns around to see a senior man in a sharp suit. "Most of the vehicles in the collection are indeed historical and marked as such. But some of those tanks are not and are actually ours."

"Yours?" Yukari asked.

"Well, with our stock of World War II vehicles, we let the museum borrow some of the ones we don't use to show to the public in stand of the real deals. So we have extra storage space for our vehicles, and they can use our vehicles as exhibits once in a while." Montgomery says. He had a USB drive in one of his hand, probably picked up from the staff he talked to. "Let's all move to the orientation room so we don't clutter up the entrance hall.

A double door to the side of the entrance hall led to the orientation room. Big enough to hold the entire group, everyone found a seat as Montgomery and Brooke were setting up the presentation program.

"So, we're all here to learn about Tankery, yes?" Montgomery rhetorically asks. "Well we'll explain a good portion of the history then go over the current events of Tankery and other finer details."

The projector lighted up and put up an image of Europe. Miho looked at it and recognized the setting as the 1910s.

"Now, who can tell me when the first tanks were ever built?" Montgomery asked like a teacher in a class. Among the other hands raised, Yukari raised her hand as fast as possible. "Yes, you with the fluffy hair."

"World War I!"

"That's right. World War I." Montgomery says as the image flickered to a series of highlighted borders of different color. "It was in World War I that tanks became a part of modern warfare. Now why was that?" Hands were raised again and Montgomery pointed towards Erwin.

"To break through the stalemate of trench warfare. While there were armored vehicles like car in existence, they couldn't cross the terrible terrain of the western front. This led to the adoption of caterpillar tracks for the ability to move across rough terrain. The tanks were developed as 'landships' by the Landship Committee in the Navy that was established by Winston Churchill in 1915. However, sometime during development they figured 'landships' were too conspicuous and decided to use the terminology tanks in reference to water tanks to code name the new armored fighting vehicles. The first tank ever was 'Little Willie', a 14 ton machine, that proved the tank concept and went on further to the first combat tank the Mark I," Erwin exposit.

"Ah, yes and…"

"The Mark I first saw combat in the Battle of Somme. Though many broke down, it proved that tanks could achieve a breakthrough in enemy lines and more were ordered. This caused an arms race in tank and anti-tank technology as the British built better tanks like the Mark IV and V, Germans developed K bullet and bundled grenades to fight the tanks. In 1916, the French then developed the first modern tank design, the Renault FT, a light tank with the core aspect of being cheap to mass produced and able to engage in a 360° angle. The French eventually produced the most tanks in World War I. The Germans, ironically, didn't produce lots of tanks and only ended up with 20 A7V heavy tanks. The limited number meant the majority of tanks in German service were actually captured British or French tanks. In the end, World War I was the genesis of armored fighting vehicles and the tank design." Erwin concluded.

Silence…

"Well… thank you, miss. That takes care of World War I." Montgomery said flabbergasted. "So that's the start of the tanks. But what about Tankery? Does anyone know?"

Brooke raised her hands here, but she was ignored. "Well, the concept of it actually started around the interwar period between World War I and II. After World War I, Germany had to agree to the Treaty of Versailles, which notably banned tank development in Germany." Montgomery said as he switched the projector image to one with two pictures, a map of the borders in the interwar period and a painting of the Versailles meeting. "Now, Germany being the sneaky bunch they are, decided they will instead develop tanks outside Germany in the Soviet Union. When the nation that enforced the Treaty of Versailles, Britain and France, got suspicious, Germany said these 'tanks' were actually 'sporting vehicles' for Panzerfahren, 'tank driving'".

He says and then switched the image to one with a Panzer I, but it had young woman standing next to it, smiling at the camera. "To enforce this disguise, Germany went ahead and started a full-scale youth program for this, encouraging school boys and girls such as yourselves to enter this program saying it will promote the health of the body and mind. The program also helped by allowing Germany to import the tanks in Soviet Union to their homeland, where they can start stockpiling their tank force for the future Panzer Divisions. But anyways, that was the first reference in history of any sorts of 'Tankery'."

The girls whispered about this silently to each other before Montgomery continued, switching the slide to one showing the Iron Curtain in the Cold War. "After World War II, as you may know, tank development took a large prioritization as NATO and the Warsaw Pact faced off. But you can't make great armies with just good tanks as the German experience in World War II showed, so we needed a way to give our men in the field experience in tank combat without using actual combat." The slide switched to show a group of soldiers with rifles, rifles with blank adapters. "Military simulation became a thing where army BLUE forces fight OPPOSITION forces. Ways to improve the simulation and training experience led to new technology such as lasers, rubber bullets, plastic bullets and the such. While some of these were great on firearms for the infantry, it was hard for tanks to get a feel of the different ballistics needed to calculate their shots. There were a lot of room for error and different tactics, especially when it becomes an armor versus armor situation. That's when the first actual "sporting application" took root."

Montgomery says this as the projector image switched to two tanks. One is a M1 Abram and the other is a cutaway of a different M1 Abrams. "Someone developed and intricate computer system inside the tank in the 1960s. Something similar to the laser tag system, but instead is optimized against kinetic rounds. The combination of training rounds that uses less penetrative material, yet possess the same ballistic, made this system a great simulation kit for the military with those rounds. It's most famous usage was in the United States' National Training Center that prepared the American armored forces to fight when Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm were launched in 1991."

The next image transition showed what appeared to be a M60 tank, but instead of military personnel operating them like in previous slides, but boys in casual clothing. "Around that time the computer system was implemented, interest in tanks had become skyrocketing. It wasn't long that a 'privatized' tank competition began in California. Using his private collection as a stockpile, he upgraded these tanks with the same computer system used by the military and adapted shells to be used in the role. Now I don't know how he got around the destructive devices law in California, but he must have some inside help. That sport grew popular enough that it started to spread in the states, then it started moving to international markets such as Britain, India, France, Germany. Before long, there as a huge market for this thing. Factories were churning out replica tanks and shells for this. The various government and organizations tried to limit this, seeing it as a dangerous activity. But arguments, appeals, and all the hassle eventually had them conceded, that it was a lot easier having the widely popular sport around with regulation, than to shut it down or let it out openly.

The slide transitioned and now showed what seemed to be a meeting at the United Nations. "Various laws were signed, as well as the establishment of an international regulation committee to oversee this activity. This committee then started the first international tournament years back and it grew wide and strong. That committee became the International League, which continues to govern the international Tankery activity to this very day." Montgomery finally concluded before the projector slide turned off, ending that presentation.

"And that's how Tankery became how it is today. Across the world, different nations developed different attitudes to Tankery which evolved to different formats. Almost like traditional martial arts with Taekwondo and Judo, you know have Tankery and Sensha-Dou as you would call it. That summarizes the basic history behind Tankery" Montgomery finishes. Miho was thoroughly impressed on the whole history. She never got the full story of Tankery before, only learning about Sensha-Dou traditions.

"Now Brooke and I will be going over the current events of Tankery. It's changed a lot very recently, in fact it changed the most in this past year."

"Huh?" Miho and some other girls were wondering. Afterall, it was only last year that Ōarai started any form of Tankery.

Montgomery continued, "So first, current events. As you know, Tankery is a recognized international sport. Almost every country with an abled industrial base can sustain it due to the International League, shortened to I.L. Tankery is in competition however with the flight community. The advent of helicopters and jets have not been kind to tanks in both military and sport wise. There is some appeal in the aviation that draws almost as much attention as tanks. Whether it is the concept of the freedom of the sky or the daredevil tricks, I don't know, I'm not an expert on that. But it is because of this that tournaments sponsored by the I.L. had become a lot more competitive as of recent. Prizes, honor, recognition, have all been gambled on these tournaments."

He says this and Miho remembers how the student council rode on the National Tournament to save Ōarai. If a national competition could save a school, how much could an international tournament accomplish?

"Naturally, many communities are encouraged by these benefits to excel in Tankery, leading to the growth of many established schools around the world. While many are private schools, military-oriented schools and organizations tend to do much better in national competitions. Such as the Army Cadet Force, like me." He says referring to himself.

"So we got all sorts of tournaments out there supported by the I.L." Emma took over, "and you're probably wondering, 'geez, how do we keep the rules in check?' Well, I.L. fixes that too with an established rule book." She says as she reaches into a carrier bag that was strapped around her shoulders. She takes out a small paperback cyan book with a black spine case. "This here is the official rule book for the International League, with country specific ones as well."

"Country specific ones?" Miho asked.

"Some countries prefer their own set of rules," Emma said. "Ranging from restrictions, what's allowed, amounts of ammo you can carry, what kinds of rounds can be carried, local laws, et cetera. That kind of things." She said. "Imagine it like a custom game rule in an online multiplayer game."

"U-um excuse me!" A voice in the orientation ask, Miho recognized as Aya. "Does Japan have their own set of rules?"

"Of course!" Emma responds enthusiastically. "Japan did a lot of modifications to the standard I.L. rules actually." She flips open the book somewhere near the end and seems to put her finger on what she wants. "Okay, so let's go over your basic rules...ah! Rules of Sensha-Dou. Here it says...competition battles are either flag battles or elimination battles. Number of vehicles for a side cannot exceed the number designated by the league. Match location is decided by the league and cannot be accessed 72 hours prior to the match date. Vehicle design restricted to those with a complete prototype by August 15, 1945. Open-top vehicles are restricted to approval. Each vehicle must have proper referee equipments. All rounds are league-sanctioned ammunition, A.K.A. the training rounds. Conditions of victory and defeat, prohibited actions, yada yada yada. That kind of stuff you should be familiar right?"

Miho and a few girls up front nodded. Emma continued, "Yes, see, Japanese rules take a lot from the standard I.L. rules, but they actually omitted some that we practice here."

"Like what?" Momo asked.

Emma looked over the Montgomery, who's been standing patiently as Emma explained her part. "One of the significant rule difference is that the use of force on exposed crew members with approved-firearms is allowed."

"Wait, what?!" Some of the girls said, some like Miho went with a "Eh?!"

"That's right, the machine guns on the tanks can be used against exposed crew members such as the commander."

Momo started, "But, that breaches so many safety codes in the League's-"

"Any how different is the machine guns from the risk of getting blown up by one of those tank shells?" Montgomery explained. "Don't worry, the guns are adapted to fire non-lethal ammunition and only that. Sure it's a risky venture, but the risk is evaluated and the I.L. seems content that the encouragement of the firearms against crew may discourage or lower the attempts at using the tank cannons when a crew member is sighted. This also allows the players to fight back against disembarked crew members attempting to scout. I guess if you want a silver-lining with this, the health insurance with the tournament helps cover any Tankery-related injury during the match."

"The International League must be really rich if they can afford that kind of risk…" Someone said.

"Well, yes, but that's the most primary rule difference," Montgomery continued. "There are some other minor details like how one should treat captured enemies. I'm sure you are aware of the rule to scout enemy base for intel on the upcoming match?"

"Uh, well. Heh." Yukari chuckled.

"Well, it's a lot more intense in the international field. Obviously the biggest strain here is that each opponent are located in different parts of the world. There are some specific rules regarding the scout. Firstly, he or she is treated in a manner according to the Geneva Convention."

"Wow, that military-oriented?" Yukari asked. Then again, she's never been caught yet to know exactly how other schools would've treated her.

"Yep, since its international grounds. If they manage to capture you, they'll hold you until the day of the match, when they'll release you back to your team. But if you get away scot-free, you're free to do whatever you want with the information you acquired." Montgomery explained.

"Wow, so strict huh?" Hana said. "In Japan they're suppose to kick you off and send you back right away."

"Well, I suppose so according to the rules. Anyways, this is all some of the core differences, but I'm sure there are bound to be more this year."

"What do you mean by that Montgomery?" Miho asked.

"It's because of that MEXT idiot in Japan. He caused all this."

"Huh? How?" Anzu asked.

"You know that match with University? The one to save your school? You know how he approved the Karl-Gerät in that match?"

Miho nodded, she remember rather fondly how an enormous siege vehicle was lobbing 600 mm shells onto the top of their heads. She could still remember the shockwave that shook the Earth as the shells landed.

"The Karl-Gerät has always been on the International League's most contested vehicles on the approval list. It'd never get past the bureaucracy of the approval tables. When that guy decided to screw up that system and added the Karl-Gerät to your match. He pretty much broke the system," Montgomery said. "Soon, we had people all over the world sending appeals, request, and the such citing that usage of the Karl-Gerät. I won't hide that we did the same ourselves, but basically a whole bunch of vehicles that would've been rejected by the League suddenly became available on the reasoning that the usage of the Karl-Gerät showed that these vehicles were viable Tankery equipment. Gah! That guy screwed up so much! Can't believe they didn't fire him already!"

"What vehicles in question?" Momo asked. Noting the anger in Montgomery's words as he spoke of that MEXT minister. He caused a lot of trouble for them and he's still there as if he's waiting to pounce again.

"Mainly open-topped vehicles," Montgomery said. "The Karl-Gerät is historically an open-topped vehicle with a large crew working on the entire darn thing. So when that was used in-game, people appealed saying that 'Hey, if a Karl-Gerät can be in Tankery, why can't ours?!' So now we got vehicles like the M10, M18 Hellcat, Archer, Marder III, and all kinds of stuff that are now approved for Tankery usage."

"So basically all the self-propelled guns in service…" Yukari summarized. "Wait! Wouldn't that rule of the use of force on crew members make that redundant? Who would want to sit on a vehicle that exposes them if they can get gunned down?"

Montgomery faced at Yukari in the crowd, "Because if a little exposure can give a team much needed anti-tank power, they're willing to sacrifice some safety for it. I've got a couple of my guys already volunteering to be on the Archers to use the full 17-pounder guns even if I find it unnecessary."

"Wait Montgomery," Anzu butted in. "How did you know about our match with University? It wasn't exactly a publicized match. Any how did you know that we did it for our school?"

"Because almost the entire armored network knows about it," Emma said as she reached into her carrier bag against. "There were some reporters present actually, sneaked their way in or something like that. They reported everything they saw." She pulled out a rather crumpled newspaper that was aging and held it up for the crowd to see. "You guys made front-line pages."

There it was, in the boldest font used:

 _Ōarai DEFEATS UST! The LEGEND takes another win for the team!_

"What?!" Some girls cried out.

"We're famous!"

"I wonder if mom saw that?!"

"Miho, did we ever see that on the newspaper?" Saori asked.

"No, I don't recall," Miho pondered. "Did you think we were just missed?"

"Perhaps the MEXT didn't want the whole nation knowing someone defeated their system…" Hana suggested. Well, they _did_ make an embarrassment out of them by dealing their way out of a closed school.

"Yep, you guys are a talk of the world's Tankery niche!" Emma said, still holding the newspaper proudly.

"Who's the 'Legend'?" Caesar asked.

"Oh, her," Emma said eyeing that word specifically. "The legendary tanker who made waves among the entire tank community. Her name probably helped as it's recognized internationally, but her feats such as this helped cement her fame in the world."

"Who is she?" Miho asked, curious.

Emma simply smiled. "It's you, Miho Nishizumi," She says pointing to the picture attached. It was Anglerfish team on their Panzer IV, with her finger pointed on Miho's face.

"Ehhhh?! ME?!"

"The Legend who performed unimaginable feats never thought to be known in Tankery," Montgomery said. "Miho, you brought a school of total nothingness in Tankery into one of an international spotlight in only months with your feats." He says this with a kind of adoration as well, as if a kid met his favorite basketball star.

"Di-Did that really warrant me such a title in the WHOLE community?" Miho asked pleadingly, as if she couldn't take the extra attention she's getting from everyone in the room.

"Remember how I said Tankery tournament benefits had an effect on the world? Here you are in the spotlight. Almost every major Tankery school and organizations knows you and the Nishizumi name now."

Everyone was still in awe on just how popular Miho was to the world, whereas Miho was kind of faint from this. "U-um, I don't think I can handle this pressure…"

"Ha, no worries Miho," Anzu reassured. "Just act like you do everyday before this!"

"How am I supposed to do that when everyone's just staring at me?!" This was all just like when she was singled out on her first day of school at Ōarai by the student council president. Singled out by her unwanted fame and legacy. Sure, she knew she made herself impressionable among the different schools in Japan, but throughout the world?!

"Either way, that's nothing much else we have to talk about Tankery in the international viewpoint," Montgomery said, concluding the orientation. "There will be some changes announced on the day of the drawing for the World Tournament exhibition matches, so we'll all get the final details then. Any questions?"

Azusa raised her hand, "How many tanks are allowed in the World Tournament for each side?"

"Hmm, well that depends. But it can be between 30 to 50 vehicles."

"50 vehicles?!" The girls were all surprised. They thought the 30 in the University match was bad enough, even with the reinforcement they got from their rival schools.

"Don't worry though, they'll definitely start at a minimum at the starting matches. I just don't know what it is until the League says so. It keeps changing y'know," Montgomery reassured. "Anyone else?"

No one else raised their hands or had any other questions. "Well, if there is no other questions about Tankery. How about something to test your knowledge on Tankery?"

"What do you mean?" Miho asked.

"Let's have a mock match tomorrow. Elimination. My cadets against Ōarai and St. Gloriana."

"Eh?!" Most of the girls in the room in the room reacted.

"You just want another excuse to fight me again, huh Montgomery?" Darjeeling said. Miho noted that throughout the entire presentation, Darjeeling and the other St. Gloriana students didn't react as much as Ōarai. Did they know all this already?

"Maybe. But either way, these girls need some hands-on experience with professional Tankers. Not more of that Sensha-Dou stuff. We're going to do it the way the International League will do it."

"Sweet! So we'll be fighting Ōarai, commander?!" Emma said with a squee.

"That's the gist of it. If they'll agree." Montgomery said motioning to Miho. She realized she was now in the attention spotlight, waiting to give the go-ahead.

"I-I don't see why not," Miho said, "I'll accept your challenge!"

"That's mighty fine to hear," Montgomery said.

"Wow! We're really going to be fighting against cadet tankers?!" Yukari shouted.

"Wow! We're really going to be fighting against Ōarai?!" Emma squeed. For a moment, it seemed like the two were meant for each other.

"Well, anyways, that concludes the whole orientation," Montgomery said. "You are all dismissed. You can go into the museum and tour around, but don't leave the premises alright? This is still military territory. The train to take you back to the port will be in a few hours, I'll make sure the museum will notify you guys over the intercom or I'll make them have you sleep in with their tanks."

"I wouldn't mind that!" Yukari said.

"Don't worry about your tanks, we can hold them here. Anyways, get outta here. Go have fun or something. Admission is free for you all, on the house!" Montgomery said and everyone dispersed really. Miho was still glued to her seat as she thought over everything that just happened. _Tankery is a whole new culture huh?_

While most of the students left the room to go to the museum, Miho was still in thought on her seat. "Is something wrong Miho?" Saori asked.

"H-huh? Oh, it's nothing," Miho explained.

"Sorry about all that info dump," Montgomery said. "I guess you never knew you were so popular outside of Japan huh?"

"Well, I always though the Nishizumi school was kind of a spotlight in the world…"

"And you surpassed even that Miho. You're a name in the community. One that everyone looks up to and adore or resent."

"Resent?"

"Let's say there are some tank aces out there in the Tankery community who really wants a crack at you. Especially from the major countries. United States, Russia, and Germany."

"That bad, huh?" Miho said. "Tankery is a whole lot different culture than I thought it was from Sensha-Dou."

"Isn't it not the same ideology in Japan?" Montgomery asked. "I thought it was just the rules. How are we so different?"

"Well first of all," Hana said. "Boys in Sensha-Dou aren't really looked upon as Sensha-Dou is considered a spiritual martial arts for women, kind of like archery of flowering."

"Men can't do Tankery in Japan?" Montgomery asked. "Man, that sounds lame. Speaking in a man's perspective."

"And they never emphasized competition in the matches, only that they are for fun and to promote health and that such. Kind of like competitive martial arts." Miho said.

"So Japan really tried to look at the spiritual part of Tankery? I guess I really shouldn't be too surprised. I heard China was somewhere along that line too…"

"Not to mention that there are the Nishizumi and Shimada teaching style that make up the main core of the Sensha-Dou styles."

"I heard about those two. Largest League-sponsored organizations in Japan. They really stand out among the others in Japan huh?"

"Yeah…" Miho said remembering her time in Kuromorimine, adhering the the Nishizumi style. "They're pretty rough."

"Anyways, Tankery don't have that restrictions between boys and girls and is very competitive, so expect to see lots of fierce opponents in this field. Most of the entrants in the World Tournament are bound to be military personnels. They'll have a lot more field and practical experiences than you girls have so be ready."

Miho understood. The Nationals back in Japan was just the tip of the iceberg for their competition. St. Gloriana, Saunders, Pravda, Kuromorimine, they were all relatively tiny to the whole world and their capabilities. In fact, Miho was getting nervous on fighting such a foe that could be disproportionately larger and stronger than Ōarai, maybe even the entire Japanese Sensha-Dou team.

"Miho, in the end, you can see this as a great learning experience for Ōarai," Anzu said. "If you can see how the world does their Sensha-Dou, we can adapt and become a stronger school in Japan!"

"Ōarai has a lot of potential to grow with you there Miho," Darjeeling said, still there and sipping her tea. "I would love to have more competition in the Sensha-Dou competition."

"It's alright Nishizumi-dono! We can do this!" Yukari said.

"I'm right behind you on this Miporin!" Saori said.

"It doesn't matter if we win or lose, let's just do our best!" Hana said.

"Everyone…" Miho, touched by everyone's support.

"Mako? Are you still sleeping?" Saori asked, noting the absence of Mako's voice. Mako had nodded off something in the whole thing and was sound asleep. Miho had a stifled laugh as she saw Mako's rather inopportune moment to take a nap.

"That's just so like Mako…"

"Reizei wake up!" Saori shouted to Mako as she jets awake.

"Bwah-? Grandma?"

"We're at England remember?"

"Oh, right."

While the two had their share of conversation. Montgomery faced to Miho, "Anyways, why don't you join everyone else looking at Bovington's collection? I'm sure it will be worth your time."

"C'mon Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari said as she latched onto Miho. "Let's go check out the museum!"

"Oh alright Yukari…" Miho said as she allows herself to be dragged away by Yukari. Soon the rest of Anglerfish and the student council followed, along with Emma, who has gotten into a friendly conversation with Yukari about the delightfulness of tanks.

All that was left in the orientation were Montgomery and St. Gloriana.

"So what do you think?" Darjeeling asked Montgomery.

He sighed. "I think they are rather naive," he said as he went over to the projector and ejected the USB drive. "Tankery is not simply a sport to some people. Some view it as their life. Honestly, I don't think they are going to go far."

"You'll be surprised about Miho Nishizumi. She learns and adapts very quickly. Perhaps her greatest strength is that her opponents know nothing about what she does."

"But that's nothing in the eyes of the International League. They look for skill. How did they Ōarai received the letter when schools that follow the Nishizumi and Shimada style existed? Though Ōarai won by luck, Kuromorimine and UST have a much better track record for international competitions."

"You think there was a mistake?" Darjeeling asked.

"Maybe… but in the end I have no authority in the I.L. If that's what they decided, then that's how it is."

"Perhaps. How are you going to arrange the match tomorrow anyways?"

"Actually, I got it planned for a while already since you told me they were coming. It's league-approved and all that already. I just needed them to agree to make it a certainty."

"You always loved to gamble, don't you Montgomery?"

"I'll take my chances, and I expect you'll be there to help them too?"

"Yes, I'll assist Ōarai… and use this opportunity to evaluate St. Gloriana's fighting style in comparison to yours. I don't plan the school to remain under you and your cadets forever."

"I respect that, and I won't stop you. Good luck." Montgomery said with a chuckle. "It'll be a 11 vs. 11 match then, elimination style. The playing field will be right here on the Bovington Training Grounds. Home turf for us cadets."

"Trying to get an edge Montgomery?"

"Whatever it takes for me to see how well stuck 'The Legend' title is to Miss Miho Nishizumi…"

* * *

 **INFO DUMP!**

 **Setting the whole foundation for differences between Tankery and Sensha-Dou. Took longer than I thought because I ended up changing the script twice. Also most of that time is me looking through the Tank Museum on their web page and virtual tour. (I wanna go there...)**

 **Anyways, we're about to have some tank fights soon! How will the Cadet 3rd RTR compare against Ōarai and St. Gloriana?! Find out next time!**

 **Thanks for reading through my story! Feel free to Favorite and Follow if you look forward to what's next. Feel free to drop a review as well. CRITICIZE ME**

 ***EDIT:* Apparently from supplementary materials, the MEXT guy was NOT dismissed in canon! Fixed that.**


	5. Knights in Roaring Armour

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 5: Knights in Roaring Armour**

 **Left Side of Bovington Training Grounds - Bovington, England**

All of Ōarai tanks were lined up on one side of the training grounds by the train yard. The training ground was a very large field with rolling hills and trees, with a beautiful lake nearby as well.

"It's quite beautiful out here!" Saori said. Perhaps in surprise that a training ground could look as good as the one they are on.

"It won't stay like this for long…" Miho thought as she surveyed the land. In one hand, she had a map of the entire training grounds given by Emma after their museum tour yesterday. On the other hand was a rule book for Tankery. She got most of it down, mainly because it really is similar to the Sensha-dou style back in Japan. Just some slight differences here and there.

"It's a pleasure again to fight alongside you." Darjeeling said as she came into the scene. She and her crew were wearing their traditional red uniform. Their tanks were parked up alongside Ōarai's.

"Yes, it's been a while," Miho said to Darjeeling as she took a sip from her tea.

"Hey, Miporin," Saori called, "What tanks are we fighting against anyways?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think they'll go for the traditional St. Gloriana set-up though…"

"They won't. They have a different mentality of this sort of thing than us," Darjeeling explained. "I'm sure it'll be a bit different than your usual opponents Miho."

"Huh… okay!" Miho said. But what possible tanks could the cadets take?

* * *

 **Right side** **of Bovington Training Grounds - Bovington, England**

Montgomery inspected the line-up in front of him. The famed British Cadets 3rd RTR, a legacy taken from one of the oldest tank regiment in British military history, was fighting a rag tag bunch of girls with a name for themselves. The small team he assembled consisted of five A34 Comet Is, three Cromwell Vs, and three Achilles.

"You think this is a little much?" Emma asked him.

"Do you think I'm pulling any punches against Ōarai?" Montgomery asked back.

"Still, only a handful on their side are worth mentioning. The Panzer IV, Tiger Porsche, Jagdpanzer 38(t), StuG III, and maybe the Churchill from St. Gloriana. Five viable tanks, and you are bringing out our competition-level line-up?"

"Emma, if Ōarai ever wants a chance in the World Tournament, they have to prepare for disproportionate firepower." Montgomery explain. "Besides, you know this isn't the first time they've been through something like this."

That was true, Emma reviewed some of the nationals tape when Ōarai fought Kuromorimine. With only 8 of those tanks, they fought against 20 of Kuromormine's best tanks. "I'm just saying…"

"Don't underestimate Ōarai. They'll probably pull victory from us if I even slack the firepower a bit. How will I explain to the instructor that Britain's finest got their arse handed over by a bunch of schoolgirls?"

"Gosh, you're vain about this. In the end, isn't this a practice match? Your name isn't held against you this time y'know?"

"I'm still the commander Emma, and this is how we'll do it."

"Alright, alright. I just don't want you to scare them away again…"

Montgomery looked at his watch. "It's about time. Get the Jeep ready, we're about the exchange greetings, as per tradition."

"Alright sarge."

* * *

 **Left Side of Bovington Training Grounds - Bovington, England**

"Hey, isn't that Montgomery coming?" Hana said as she looked at the landscape.

The jeep was coming up to Ōarai's position from the other side. It stopped a few meters away as the occupants, Montgomery and Emma, exited.

"Good morning, Montgomery!" Miho said.

"Ah, good morning to all of you," He said. "I trust you are all prepared for today's match?"

"We're as ready as we'll ever be!" Anzu said with a thumbs up.

Montgomery observed Ōarai's tank line-up. "I guess it'll be a bit unfair if I know your tank composition and you don't. So here's the deal, we've got five Comets, three Cromwells, and three Achilles."

"Whoa," Yukari reacted. "That's a lot of firepower there."

"Think you can handle that, Miho Nishizumi?" Montgomery said.

"I'll take on the challenge!" Miho replied.

"Well, I'll wish you best of luck. And as always…" He said as he extended his hand, "Let's have a good match."

"Right!" Miho said as she shook Montgomery's hand. When their grip relaxed, he turned away back to the jeep.

"I still think it's quite overkill for a practice match," Emma said to Miho. "Think you can handle it?"

Miho smiled back at her confidently, "I won't know 'till I try!"

"Haha, okay then," Emma said. "Good luck." She turned back also, got into the Jeep, and drove away back to their side of the map.

"Hey Miporin, so what are we against?" Saori asked again.

"Five Comets, three Cromwells and three Achilles," Miho said. "We're dealing mostly with tanks that fought from 1944 onwards. They're going to have a great advantage in firepower."

"Eight of those tanks carry the 17-pounder or its derivatives…" Yukari stated.

"The 17-pounder?" Saori asked.

"Y'know… The one on the Firefly we saw from Saunders?"

"What?! And we're dealing with enemies that have a lot of that gun?"

"It's not too bad… Kuromorimine's tanks like the Panther and Tiger have guns worse than the 17-pounder, and the armor the cadets have aren't as tough as the Germans…" Miho rationalized. "I think if we can get our shots off onto the tanks first, we stand a chance at winning."

"Alright Miho, so what's the plan of attack then?" Momo asked.

Miho looked at the field map again. The map of the large green plain with varying slopes of hills and foliage, providing a variety of opportunities for hull-down positions and concealment. The lake they saw was on the northeast portion of the map. They currently were in front of the train yard at the west side of the map. Looking at the terrain, she saw that there were three prominent landmarks that can be used.

"Okay, here's the plan. We're starting on the left here, they'll be starting on the right. These three points here…" Miho said as she pointed at the map. The points lie on bigger hills on the terrain, "the left one here is point Alpha, the center hill with the small houses is point Bravo, the one on the farthest right is point Charlie. The most important thing to do is secure these hills one by one to gain a vantage point for our big guns."

She looked at the team composition. "We'll split to three squads. Dandelion, Sunflower, and Jasmine. Dandelion will consist of Anglerfish, Anteater, Duck, and Rosehip's Crusader. We're going to focus on flanking the enemy on the sides of the hills.

"Alright!" Rosehip could be heard agreeing with Miho's plan.

"Squad Sunflower will be Darjeeling's Churchill, Rukuriri's Matilda , Leopon, and Mallard team. You will be focusing on the main assault on each of these points I've assigned."

"An assault team? I'll go along with that plan," Darjeeling said.

"You will have to take the majority of the resistance the cadets have, Darjeeling should try to absorb most of the shots with the Churchill's armor while Leopon takes out the enemy with its 88 mm."

"The Churchill may not be able to last very long against 17-pounder fire. I trust you can eliminate the targets quickly Leopon?" Darjeeling said.

"Don't worry, leave it to us!" Satoko from Leopon said.

"The Comets and Cromwells have a bad transmission for reverse," Yukari said. "If you can catch them popping out to take a shot, they're leaving themselves open for a lot longer than usual so you can get a clean shot!"

"Good advice!"

"Anyways, team Jasmine…" Miho continued, "will consist of Hippo, Turtle, and Rabbit team. You are our long-range support with the tank destroyers."

"What about us?" Azusa from Rabbit said, noting that the M3 Lee doesn't conform to Miho's description.

"As our tallest tank, you have to call out shots for the tank destroyers, and also do long-range scouting for any tanks trying to flank us. Protect the two, they don't have traversable turrets so they won't be able to respond quickly if a tank manages to sneak up on you," Miho explained

"Alright!"

"And be careful if you're sticking your head out for scouting. Remember, the new rules is that the tanks can now shoot their machine guns at exposed crew. They use League-approved ammunition, but it'll still hurt a lot."

"What's the point of that thing anyway? What good will it do to shoot at someone if the bullet hitting doesn't count as a hit?" Sodoko asked. "Sounds just like another cruel trick to add."

"Psychological warfare I think," Miho said. "People are a lot less likely to be exposed if they can get hurt real bad by eager machine guns. And a buttoned up crew is almost a blind crew so there is the cut in visibility."

"Still sounds needlessly excessive."

"I don't know. You're right in that it's a rule with no other purpose than to scare people, but we're going to have to work with it unless they amend it," Miho said. "So that's our general make-up of the team. We're going to capture each of those hills one by one for vantage point and hopefully hunt down their tanks. Judging from the line-up Montgomery told me, he is probably going to use the Comets as a attacker, Cromwells as the flankers, and the Achilles as their long-range support, so keep an eye out!"

"Hai!" The girls responded.

"Any questions?" Miho asked the crowd.

A hand went up, it was Aya.

"Yes Aya?"

"What if we get hurt badly? Y'know, from the shooting and all?" She asked.

"From what I know, it should be the same concept if you get injured from a flying shell," Miho says. "If the injury is too severe, the officials will stop the match and allow for the necessary removal or treatment of the player before continuing."

"I'm still scared..."

"There's a rule saying we can acquire our own protective gears… for the crew," Miho said. "Maybe we can look into that after this match."

"..."

"I know this is scary…" Miho said, "But this isn't too different from the risk of being hit by a flying tank shell. We can do this, we just have to stay focused at our task."

"O-Okay…" Aya said. Miho privately hoped that none of the girls lose their nerves with this new risk.

"Is there any other questions?" Miho asked again. No one responded this time. "Good, we'll wait for the announcement for the match to start. Get in your tanks, and good luck!"

Everyone hurried back to their tanks and made their final checks. The tanks were moved to make up the groups Miho called for.

"Isn't this strategy a bit different than usual?" Saori asked Miho inside the Panzer IV.

"I took it from our match with University. Splitting into three groups to cover the different sections of the field," Miho explained. "Besides, against the cadets, I think we need a more sophisticated plan than our usual."

"They'll have a great advantage in experience I think," Yukari said. "We'll have to keep up with their tactics if we're going to win."

"I left the strategy open to flexibility if the cadets act fast against our own."

"Have faith Miho, you've never let us down before," Hana said. "You're not going to start now are you?"

"Nope!"

"That's what I expected to hear Miporin!"

Miho still wasn't sure herself the plan will hold up. _No plan survive the first minute of combat,_ She thought as she consider the cadet's plan of attack. What if they won't use their tanks to their intended use? She tries to shake these thoughts off as a sound echoed from a distance.

Miho saw the bright white flare go up from the referee area.

 _It's time_. " _Panzer Vor!_ " Miho shouted into her team radio as Mako throttle the Panzer IV. All of Ōarai's and St. Gloriana's tanks follow along and moved in their assigned squads.

Their first goal was Hill Alpha, the leftmost hill on the map that was right in front of them. Sunflower and Jasmine squads were headed straight towards the hill while Dandelion headed to the North of it. _If the cadets started on the other side, they should be focused on taking Hill Charlie_ first… Miho thought.

The four tanks rolled along the flat grass. " _Duck, Rosehip, move forward and scout ahead for any incoming enemy from Hill Bravo_ " Miho radioed through.

" _Roger!"_ Rosehip's voice was heard and her Crusader accelerated.

" _Oh no you're not!_ " The Type 89 revved up and accelerated in an attempt to catch up. The Panzer IV and Type 3 continued their path at cruising speed.

About 10 minutes have past as the tanks moved to Hill Bravo in the distance.

" _Darjeeling to Miho,_ " Miho heard on her radio headset. " _Sunflower and Jasmine have secured Hill Alpha._ "

" _Affirmative!_ " Miho responded, " _Sunflower, continue forward to Hill Bravo. Jasmine, stay at Alpha and prepare for firing support for us._ "

" _Roger that!_ " She heard Azusa radio from her M3 Lee.

" _Anteater, continue moving forward with me!_ " Miho radioed to the Chi-Nu.

" _This is Duck!"_ Noriko's voice spoke through the receiver. " _We've reached Hill Bravo! We got a good vantage over the field towards Charlie. I got confirmed movement on the north side of the hill! Five tanks!_ "

 _Five tanks…_ Miho thought. " _Comets?"_

" _Looks like it,"_ Noriko said. " _They're still quite far at around 800 meters and moving, there is no way they can hit us fro-_ _GAH!"_

" _Duck! What's wrong?!"_

" _That's tank shells fired at us from the south! Gah! Cromwells moving at the south! They're even faster than the Comets!"_

Miho looked at her map. _So Comets at the north, Cromwells at the south…_ She marked on the map with her pencil. _If they did capture Hill Charlie, they've probably stationed their Achilles over there…_

" _Duck! Rosehip! Pull back and get to cover! They are about to do a pincer attack on Bravo!"_

" _Roger!"_ She heard Rosehip and Noriko say as she saw at the distance the two tanks speeding away from the buildings on the brow of the hill.

" _Anteater, take up a hull-down position on the next mound!_ " Miho radioed. If the enemies are about to come to the hill on both sides, they can get a view point from their position where they can target them. Either way, they were vulnerable without Sunflower's heavy tanks. The two scout tanks, vulnerable with their weak armament, zoomed behind a small mound for cover and concealment, ready to strike.

The Panzer IV and Type 3 perched behind the mound with the guns depressed. Miho looked up and ranged targets. _The building on top of the hill is about 600 meters… so that mound between there and here is around 450 meters…_ She thought to herself, writing it down. " _Anteater team, range to that brown-roofed building with two windows facing us is 600 meters."_

" _Roger!"_

Miho looked through her binoculars at the hill. About 7 minutes past before she saw any movements.

At the distance here, she could see the square shape of the Cromwells climbing the right side of the hill. Three total in a line formation. "Hana, aim at the one in front." Miho said as she grabbed her mic, " _Anteater, prepare to fire at the Cromwell at the back after we fire._ "

"Firing!" Hana shouted as she pulled the trigger. The 75 mm produced a fantastic recoil and shock wave that could be felt inside the tank as the loud _BOOM_ sounded and the pressure could be felt from inside. Miho observed the round fly right into Cromwell's side armor. It shook from the impact, sputtered, then a white flag popped up. The moment the shell hit, The Type 3 fired its 75 mm round, landing right into the last Cromwell.

"Two tanks down!" Miho said as she observed. The Cromwell in the middle, stuck between the two knocked out ones, did a neutral turn to the right.

"Clear!" Yukari yelled as the gun breech went up.

"Hana! Fire again!"

"Firing!" Hana yelled once more as the Panzer IV shook again and Miho saw the round tracer zip towards the Cromwell, but it boosted away and the shell skimmed its rear armor.

"Miss! It got away," Miho said as she lowered her binoculars and got onto the radio. " _Sunflower, Jasmine, engaged enemy tanks. We took down two Cromwells._ "

The mic picked up in response, but Miho noted the background noise was not of a tank rumbling, but a clatter of empty shell cases and firing.

" _This is Duck!_ " Noriko's voice came again from the sound of an active Type 89. " _We're engaging Comets! They popped over the mound we were hiding behind and surprised us! We took off as fast as possible!"_

" _Huh?_ " Miho responded. _Comets are now in the south? "They must've went from behind Bravo and attacked from the south! Sunflower, move in and support Duck and Rosehip! Jasmine, focus fire on the south side of that hill!"_

* * *

" _Affirmative_ ," Darjeeling responded to the radio. " _All squad members, shift direction to the south and prepare for combat!"_

The Churchill, Matilda, Char B1, and the Tiger (P) changed directions from straight towards the hill to the commotion on the south of it. Darjeeling laid down her tea and popped out of the commander's cupola with a binocular in hand to observe. At the horizon around 800 meters away, she could see the two scrambling scouts running from a full platoon of Comet I that made their way towards the rest of Dandelion.

" _Stop behind that small mound there and engage that enemy force!"_ Darjeeling relayed the order as shells started coming down on them. The tanks stopped behind a decent hull-down position and aimed their guns at the incoming Comets. They were fast and agile, zipping around and doing graceful turns as they zig-zag their way towards them.

" _Rukuriri, Sodoko, fire towards the enemy, don't give them time to breathe! Tiger, fire at them only if you are certain you can hit!"_

" _Roger!"_ Darjeeling heard an enthusiastic voice from the Tiger. " _Who're you calling Sodoko?!_ " The Char B1 commander snapped. The Matilda opened fire rapidly with its 2-pounder gun. Though its doubtful the 2-pounder stands a chance on penetrating the Comets, it's enough to scare them. The Char B1 fired its twin armaments in rapid succession.

"On the way!" Assam said as she triggered the gun. The 75 mm shell traveled and bounced off the front hull of the Comet as all the other shots have.

That was when the Tiger (P) fired, its 88 mm gun dwarf everyone else's and the massive sound blast only preceded the destruction it laid out on the Cromwells, with the Cromwell to the right of the lead knocked out in one go and thrown sideways from the kinetic energy transfer.

" _That's a good hit,"_ Darjeeling said to the crew of the Tiger. Shells started raining from the Comet's position towards theirs before they came to a stop on a hull-down position behind a small hill.

Still, Ōarai had the upper hand in this encounter. With Dandelion to the Comet's right and Sunflower right in front, the Comets have to worry about two directions of fire. There was the Cromwell still stuck at Hill Bravo, but it isn't taking an active stance in this firefight.

" _Pin down those Comets from there!_ " Miho radioed in. " _We'll move in from the side and take them out!"_

" _Affirmative!_ " Darjeeling replied as Assam sent out another round.

"This is really unusual of Montgomery isn't it?" Orange Pekoe said as she loaded another round into the gun. "I don't think the cadets are this reckless."

"They have proper movement, we just caught them first," Darjeeling said. "Though I am surprised on how they are reacting."

"Like they're buying time?"

"Perhaps…" Darjeeling pondered. She got onto the radio, " _Darjeeling to Miho, and words on the location of the Achilles tank destroyers?_ "

" _No words,"_ Miho replied.

 _It is possible that they keep the Achilles in the back in case we break through,_ Darjeeling thought. _But why waste powerful guns sitting in the back?_ Darjeeling took up the radio, "Miho, send some scouts to look for those Achilles at the south."

" _At the south?_ " Miho asked.

"I don't believe Montgomery is going to play by the norm," Darjeeling said, "He's been known to be tricky with his enemies."

As the gun fire clatter outside the tank, Darjeeling looked at Montgomery's tactics. A pincer movement on Bravo that has Comets on left and Cromwells on the right. Cromwells continued up, but the Comets then went behind the hill and appeared on the hill's right? _Just what is Montgomery planning?_

* * *

 **Hill Alpha, Bovington Training Grounds**

Azusa was perched on top of the M3 Lee's commander turret with her binoculars overwatching Dandelion and Sunflower. In front of her to the right were Hippo and Turtle team, firing towards the chaos at Bravo.

"Nothing's new," Azusa notes as she put down her binoculars.

"Heh, maybe we've got their tail between their legs!" Aya said enthusiastically. "They can't handle us!"

"I'm… not so sure about that," Azusa states as she raised her binocular again.

Inside the Lee, Saki was idling around the empty space in the turret. Aya was playing around with the 37 mm adjustment levers. Karina was relaxing on the driver seat. Ayumi was also observing the battle through her 75 mm gun optic. Yuuki was listening into the radio for orders from Miho.

But radio activity dropped since the firefight at Bravo began. Miho and the others were fighting the cadets for control of the hill, but it seemed… to quiet.

" _Jasmine team, this is Dandelion!_ "The radio suddenly came to life as Yuuki listened in. " _Keep aware of any enemy infiltrators!_ "

"Azusa! It's Miho!" Yuuki screamed through the tank's interior. "Miho is telling us to watch for enemies trying to get to us!"

"What?" Azusa responded, "Like who-" She said as a deafening whistle zoomed in front of her. Out the corner of her eye, the distinctive bright tracer light of a tank shell.

The whole crew shook. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Aya screamed.

"We're taking fire!" Azusa said as she lowered herself into the cupola. "From the right!"

"Dandelion, Sunflower, we're being shot at somewhere at the south!" Yuuki screamed into the radio as Azusa rotated her cupola towards the right and scanned for possible targets. Karina jolts the M3 Lee awake as it backs up to the left, facing south now.

The StuG III and Hetzer also roared to life, changing focus from Sunflower and Dandelion's location to the origin of the shot heading towards them.

Azusa brings up her binoculars. "That was a high-velocity shot! There should be a cloud of dust at the firing location!"

* * *

Erwin looked through the StuG III's binocular periscope looking out at the distance. The south was had rolling mounds, almost like the hills they've been fighting with the cadets at, but they rolled along with no great height interruptions. Lots of foliage were also present in the south. Near the foliage, a small hazy cloud formed.

"I see it!" Erwin shouted, "Enemy tanks! Range… about 1200 meters!" She shouted to the crew before picking up the radio, "Spotted enemy tank! 1200 meters my 12 o' clock!"

"Saemonza! Target those tanks!" Caesar ordered as Saemonza aligned the 75 mm StuK 40 cannon. "On target!"

"Fire!"

"On the way!" Saemonza said as she pulled the trigger. The 75 mm recoil breech rocked back the length of the interior as the shell fly a high trajectory. At the distance, only Erwin could see the shot placement as the dust brewed up from the shot.

"Miss!" Erwin said. "Correction! 100 meters up!"

Saemonza shifted the gun elevation gears as the Hetzer also fired its gun towards the direction.

" _All team this is Rabbit,_ " the radio came alive with Yuuki. " _Jasmine is under fire from three enemy tanks to the south of Alpha. Range 1200 meters._ "

" _Roger!_ " Miho voice came through after a pause. " _Drive them off! If you can't, regroup with us!_ "

"Oh, we'll be fine," Erwin said to herself with that transmission.

"Firing!" Saemonza said again as the StuG shook again with the blast. Erwin observed the shells and saw… two tracers?

"Scheisse! Oryou! Move the vehicle!" Erwin shouted, but it was too late. While the StuG's shell was traveling at a velocity of 790 m/s, the incoming round came at 840 m/s.

The force of the impact sent the StuG III flying a few feet back. The crew violently lurched along with the StuG. The StuG dug into the ground, ripping the tracks beyond operational use.

Hippo team could only groan when a white flag rose from the StuG III's roof.

* * *

 **South of** **Hill Alpha, Bovington Training Grounds**

Emma observed through her binoculars as she saw her Achilles' 17-pounder shot land right on the StuG III, and expressed some satisfaction when the white flag came up. "Good shooting Edwards."

"Thanks vice-commander!" Edwards cried out.

Emma looked back at her binoculars and scanned the remaining two vehicles at the hill. She saw the girls looking out of their tanks to observe their shots and scanning the enemy. She thought back at one of Montgomery's orders.

 _Scare the hell out of them_.

"Huh," She sighs, "it's almost mean though…"

"What did you say VC?" Edwards said.

"Nothing," Emma said as she climbed out of the vast turret space onto the back of the turret on top of the engine deck. "Hold your fire for now, keep them in your sights."

"Roger!"

Emma took up the M2 Browning on the back and racked the bolt handle, charging a League-approved ammo. _Gosh I hope I don't hit one of them in the face…_ She thought as she aimed the Browning sights towards the hill. At this distance, the trajectory is straight on.

She pressed down on the butterfly trigger and let the recoil do the rest of the work.

* * *

 **Hill Alpha, Bovington Training Grounds**

Azusa didn't notice the first few whistling through the air until she saw the tracers coming all the way from the Achilles. Then the bullets started to impact the M3 armor with a very shattering _Clack_ or a _Crack_ every time.

"EEEEE!" Azusa screamed as she ducked under the commander's cupola. "They're shooting at us!"

" _What's going on out there?!_ " Anzu from the Hetzer was shouting as well.

The .50 rounds, traveling at a rate of 928 m/s, violently shatter against the metal armor of the tanks. The sound was spine-chilling. Echoing inside the tank like a bell, surrounding the girls in the Lee.

"WHAT IN THE HECK IS GOING ON?!" Aya shouted among the ringing metal.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Azusa shouted back harder.

Karina, hands on her ears, couldn't stand it. She took hold of the steering levers, shifted gears, and had the M3 Lee reverse.

The tank steadily fell back and the bullets continued clanging on the metal.

"Wa-wait Karina!" Azusa tried to say. "Stop the tank!"

"What do you mean 'stop'?!" Aya shouted. "They're going to slaughter us here!"

"Come on girls! We're better than this! We just have to-" A 17-pounder shell whizzes right above Azusa's cupola. "ACK! Fall back, fall back! Yuuki! Tell Turtle we're getting out of here! It's too hot now!"

"Turtle! Turtle! This is Rabbit! We're pulling back to Miho and the other!"

" _What do you mean?!_ " Momo's voice echoed in the radio. " _Just keep firing!_ "

" _Momo! Calm down!_ " Yuzu said as the Hetzer started backwards as well.

" _Don't tell me to calm down Yuzu! The enemy are right in front of us!_ "

" _And we'll lose if we stay here!"_

"Let's go!" Azusa said and directed the Hetzer back.

The two remaining vehicles reversed down the slope of Alpha and using the cover of the terrain, moved towards Bravo under fire from the Achilles.

* * *

 **Hill Bravo, Bovington Training Grounds**

Another Comet got knocked out as it came out to take a shot, only to meet Miho's Panzer IV waiting for it. Popping a shot, the 75 mm shell slammed into the weak side armor and put it out of commission.

 _Three Comets, One Cromwell, Three Achilles,_ Miho thought to herself on the kill tally. So far they've knocked out four cadet tanks. It wasn't too bad.

" _This is Leopon to Miho!_ " The radio crack alive again. " _We've been hit! We're out!_ "

"Huh?!" Miho exclaimed and looked at Sunflower's location. The Tiger (P) was smoldering and has its flag up. "Where did that come from?"

" _It came from the south at around our 4 o'clock,_ " Darjeeling said. " _It's the Achilles, they've shifted focus on us._ "

"Miho!" A voice came from behind her. Rabbit Team and Turtle team had caught up. "I'm sorry! They caught us off guard and took out Hippo!"

Miho looked at the situation in front of her. Comets in front of them, Achilles behind, and they lost their long-range support.

"They're going to close in on us!" Miho radioed. "We're sitting ducks down here!"

"What do we do Miporin?" Saori asked her.

Miho thought about it. "We have to secure one of the hills! Take Hill Bravo!"

"But the Comets are over there!"

"They're on the right!" Miho explained, "Move in from the north on the left!"

" _Miho_ ," Darjeeling's voice was heard. " _Our tanks won't be able to maneuver fast enough to do that._ "

"Nuts!" Miho said. The Churchill and Matilda can't move from its location to the north of hill.

" _So we're going to charge straight through the Comets_."

"What?! Are you sure?" Miho ask.

" _It's better than staying here in the middle of the field… and we just may take a few with us and act as distraction for your movement._ " Darjeeling explained.

Miho thought about the plan. Either way, this may end with a total decimation of Sunflower. Is she ordering a squad to throw their tanks away for time?

She took a deep breath. "Alright Darjeeling! Do what you have to do. Group up on Bravo!"

" _Roger. Darjeeling out._ "

Saori changed radio frequency to Jasmine.

"Rabbit, Turtle, Duck, Anteater, and Rosehip! Follow me to Bravo!" Miho said. The small formation rolled across the hill.

* * *

 **Top of Hill Bravo, Bovington Training Grounds**

"Oi Mac!" Ben said repulsed by the smell in his tank. "Are you drinking that yank shit again?!"

"For the last bloody time Ben, I can drink whatever the _damn_ hell I want."

"But coffee?!"

"Knock it off you two," Cadet Corporal Harvey said as he looked around from the Cromwell's cupola. The Cromwell, the lone survivor of its platoon, was ordered simply to take the vantage point and direct any shots. However, since the Achilles went off their little venture and the Comets got the school girls stuck in between the hills, activity for the Cromwell has gotten stale.

The top of the hill had a small mock village. About five buildings and even a mock storage tank.

Continued firing started at the southwest of the hill as the Comets continued firing. Distant shots echoed in from the Achilles. But suddenly, a roaring to the north?

Harvey looked over just in time to see a Panzer IV climbing over a mound and falling down to the earth, gun at ready pointing at the unfortunate corporal.

"Shit! Full ahead driver!" Harvey yelled.

The Cromwell picked up speed fast. The Panzer IV fired and the shell skimmed the rear of the Cromwell. Cromwell sped behind a building as Harvey reached for the radio.

"King!, this is Bishop 1! Over!"

" _This King1, send, over"_

"We are engaged with an enemy force north of Point B!"

" _Roger that Bishop 1. Stall them. I'll send reinforcements._ "

"Roger that King! Bishop 1 out!" Harvey yelled and then putting the radio down. "Alright crew! We gotta keep these girls busy!"

"Gah, I think I spilled my coffee!"

"You're cleaning that up later Mac. Ben, get that gun ready. Driver, forward right!"

The Cromwell lurched forward again and turned the corner of the building. "Gunner traverse right" Harvey said in the intercom. "Driver, make circles around the whole village."

"Roger," the replies came in. The Cromwell rolled forwards as it exposed itself. Harvey could see four tanks had rolled towards the top and positioned itself in the center of the village.

"Got 'em!" Ben said looking through the Cromwell's 75 mm cannon. With the tank still moving, he fired a shot. Firing short and the shell ricochet off the dirt into the air.

The Cromwell continued its circular path even with the girl's attention towards them. The M3 Lee fired a shot towards its direction but missed. Ben fired another shot, this time grazing the Type 3.

* * *

"Ergh… they're ticking me off!" Momo said as she watched the tank circle around the team. The Hetzer's fixed 75 mm gun can't keep up with its speed.

"They'll be behind us soon…" Anzu said looking out the rear periscope. "Just have to leave it to the tanks."

Anzu observed the Cromwell make its rounds as the Hetzer tried to rotate with it. Soon, there it was right behind the Hetzer with its gun towards them. It slowed to a stop…

Then the Cromwell promptly got nailed by the Panzer IV.

* * *

"Nice shot Hana!"

"Thanks!" Hana said as Yukari loaded another round.

"What now Miporin?" Saori said.

A tree on the south side of the hill snapped and crumbled down. From behind, Miho was glad to see Darjeeling's Churchill make it up, but… was that it?

"Darjeeling, you're safe!" Miho radioed in.

" _We lost the Matilda and the Char B1 on the way here._ "

"Oh…" Miho said, though relieved that at least one survived through.

" _We also managed to take out one Comet on the way up._ "

So one less tank to worry about. Miho tallied up the tanks left in the match. They've got seven tanks left, the cadets have six, but they have an advantage in long-range firepower with their 17-pounders.

"Okay, here's the plan," Miho said over the radio.

* * *

Montgomery looked at his map after ordering his Comets forward past their dug in position. Not among one of the more orthodox decisions he made in the course of his Tankery history, but it worked.

He's overestimated and underestimated Miho Nishizumi throughout the course of the match. When he ordered his crew to take Bravo, he'd thought Miho already set up shop on top and was to surround her. She didn't and instead decimated most of his Cromwell squad. Then slugging it out with her on the hills, the anti-tank squad manage flank the ones isolated at Alpha. Now she's gone and sent her team straight towards the Comet's fire.

The Comets had to move or suffer from close range shell impacts. While the Comet armor is stronger than the Cromwells, it is only marginally and even a 75 mm at close range can do some work.

A throwback to medieval times, he ordered the Comets to joust them. Charging straight through each other, he lost one Comet but took out their Matilda and Char B1. Not significant in terms of firepower removal, but a decrease in numbers was good in armored warfare.

Either way, things weren't going as expected. _She's pretty good,_ Montgomery thought. Staying a distance away from Bravo behind a hill as he organized another attack plan. With only six vehicles left, he's got to make a good one.

"King to Queen," Montgomery got onto the radio. "New attack plan. Move your the TD's to attack range at Bravo. I'll use my Comets and isolate them on the hill. We'll take them out on our terms. Over."

" _Roger that King,_ " The replies came in.

"King to Stars," Montgomery radioed to his remaining Comet tanks. "Let's get a move on. Surround Point Bravo!"

* * *

 **South of** **Hill Alpha, Bovington Training Grounds**

The diesel engines of the Achilles rolled across the plain. Emma could see Point Bravo from here with Montgomery's Comets spreading out and surrounding the hill.

She looked over the large turret, checking the terrain and accounting for every bumps and slopes the tank destroyer was traveling on. With the removal of the Tiger (P) with a lucky shot from one of her comrades, the long-range capability of Ōarai was down to the two 75 mm on the Panzer IV and Hetzer. Narrowing down the vehicles from there, the others will be easy targets for the Achilles if the they try to get a shot off.

Was that really it for Ōarai? Emma couldn't shake the feeling that despite all statistics, something was off with the tactics and pattern. It's just like in their matches in the nationals, Ōarai was an unpredictable bunch of amateurs. A professional was predictable, amateurs weren't.

As the Achilles bumped along, Emma looked through her binoculars at Point Bravo for any of Ōarai trying to take a pot shot.

"VC! Enemy tanks on our 2 o'clock!"

"What?!" Emma shouted as she rotated herself.

A small distance away, two vehicles were zooming right towards them.

* * *

"Let's go!" Noriko shouted to her crew. The Type 89 picked up speed along with Rosehip's Crusader. "Full power guts!"

The Achilles were scrambling. The range was less than 300 meters away. They've caught them off guard. Noriko could see the Achilles crew members frantically turn the manual traverse turret.

"Spike!" She yelled as the Type 89 fired its 57 mm gun. The shot grazed one of the turret. An Achilles had fired in desperation, but it shot was off and soared above the two scout tanks.

Rosehip's 6-pounder gun in her Crusader shot at the glacis of another Achilles. Alas, the sloped front armor caused the round to deflect off beyond the three tank destroyers.

The tanks were closing in on each other. In terms of specifics, the Type 89 and Crusader won't stand a chance again these Achilles. But with surprise and range in their favor, they are exploiting the Achilles' weaknesses and will take out as many as possible.

"Clear!" Noriko said after sliding in a shell. "FIRE AGAIN!"

Akebi took another look through the optics and fired a round. The shell hit head-on into the lead Achilles' front. But it was simply too weak at this distance. The Achilles remained untouched.

* * *

"God damn!" Emma yelled after the the shell cracked against the front armor. She looked closer at their opponents. A Type 89 and a Crusader tank. _A Type 89?_ She realized and climbed out of the turret.

"VC! What are you doing?" Edwards said as he saw Emma vaulted the rear and stood behind the turret. She gripped onto the M2 Browining on the pintle-mount.

Bracing the recoil with a leg on the duck-bill shape counterweights on the Achilles, she fired off the heavy machine gun with continuous shots at the Japanese tank.

The rounds sparked off the armor. _Oh please work_ , Emma thought as she continued firing. The bullets continued sparking off, until the Type 89 suddenly halted, sputtered, then a white flag popped up. _Phew, glad that worked out,_ Emma thought as she sighs in relief.

"What did you do?" Edwards asked Emma.

"Type 89 is a pre-World War II tank," Emma explained as she climbed back inside the Achilles tank. "It's vulnerable even to anti-tank rifles, so I thought the fifty-cal machine gun would do the job."

"Wow, smart!"

"Get back to your duty!" Emma shot. "That Crusader is still out there!"

* * *

"Huh?! How thin is that armor that the machine gun can destroy it?!" Rosehip asked incredulously to the vulnerability of Duck Team's Type 89. The Crusader was still speeding along the plain, moving faster than the Achilles' turret traverse rate. It was only about 150 meters away now. Near point-blank range, and the 6-pounder excel at this range against the thin tank destroyer armor. With her tea swaying along with the Crusader's movement, Rosehip gave her order, "Fire!"

The Crusader recoiled back, barely affecting its speed and direction, but the 6-pounder 57 mm shell zipped into the side armor of the Achilles in the right of the formation. Smoke spewed at the impact center and a white flag popped up from one of the counterweights.

"Next target!" The Crusader was now right behind the two Achilles. Their turret was still pointed to their 2 o'clock. The Crusader was in a prime flanking position at their blind spot.

"Fire again!"

* * *

Emma saw the Crusader shot fire another shot and skim her other Achilles. They're never going to catch up with this game of cat-and-mouse. "Driver! Turn left!"

"What about the turret?!" Edwards asked.

"Forget the turret! Line up the shot when she gets into the turret's direction!"

Edwards looked through the sights as the Achilles shifted gear to the left. Rumbling along with its a large radius due to the transmission design.

"Steady!" Emma commanded as she observed the Crusader's movement. It didn't seem to pick up on Emma's movements as it sped to the left of the Achilles group. Emma's Achilles was about to line up with the Crusader. "Get ready!"

Edwards held his breath…

"Now Gunner!"

The Crusader popped up into the optics. In a split-second reaction, Edwards pulled the trigger and the 17-pounder rung a sweet tone as it forced the Crusader into a barrel roll with its impact. Landing belly-up, the white flag of the Crusader popped up.

The crew gasped in relief. "Good shooting Edwards."

"Thanks VC." Edwards said as he gasped for breath.

* * *

 **Top of Hill Bravo, Bovington Training Grounds**

" _We could only get one of them! Sorry Miho!_ " Duck Team transmitted to Miho.

"That's fine! We'll carry it out from here!" Miho responded. _One more down, so now we're on a five vs. five match_ , Miho thought. She never thought the machine guns on tanks would actually be calibrated to be counted in the Sensha-Dou system. The Type 89 would have to be deployed more carefully in the future… or upgraded.

Either way, she must now focus on the current situation. "Darjeeling, let's do this!"

" _Roger!_ "

* * *

Naomi's Comet has taken position on the southeastern portion of Point Bravo. It was climbing the hill in an attempt of a three-pronged attack to isolate Ōarai and drive them out, where they'll be exposed to fire.

A strange tactic indeed, but with what they have left, it's all they've got. A tactic that worked in the end isn't stupid.

But Ōarai had been an weird bunch of girls to fight. She's heard of them from their exploits at the Japanese nationals. A noble bunch, fighting for the survival of the school to the very end. But now that they were in front of her, she can't help but feel… underwhelmed.

Perhaps legends were better in stories.

"King, this is Rook 2. We've reached the brow of Bravo."

" _Roger, proceed to weed them out_." Montgomery's orders came in.

"Roger! Rook 2 out!" Naomi said and stowed away the radio. She looked towards her crew, "Stay put. I'll be back." She says and exited the vehicle.

Naomi was familar with the landscape, they performed their training manuevers here. Walking on the grasses as they brush her legs up to her knee. She hugged the wall of a building and peered over the corner. Out of her eye she could see a Churchill with the St. Gloriana's emblem. Though its front armor was faced towards them, the turret was facing a different direction.

An opening. Naomi sprinted back to her Comet, sat herself down the commander's hatch and connected to the intercom. "There is a Churchill to the right of that building. Gunner, traverse right. Driver, move over there and stop!"

"Roger!" The two crew members said and the Comet I lurched forward as the gun traversed. The Comet came out lighting fast and stopped still, allowing the gunner to line his sight.

But Naomi saw something different than before. Instead of a turret side to fire at, it was now facing her, and there was a Hetzer besides it.

"Oh bollocks."

* * *

" _Darjeeling to Miho, we destroyed the Comet coming from the south._ " Darjeeling said casually.

"Good job!" Miho replied.

" _You just HAD to miss Momo?!_ " Yuzu's voice came through.

" _Sh-Shut up! I was a lot better in training!_ " A rather tearful Momo said.

Miho looked up at the tree, "And thank you for the recon Momoga! Nekoya!"

" _No biggie!_ " Momoga said from about half-way up a tree.

" _Ah, I… I'm being praised by Miho…"_ Nekoya mumbled through.

The two have left the safety of the tank and using their strength to climb the structures. Using their vantage point, they helped Miho and the others scout for the incoming Comets.

"Keep it up you two!"

* * *

Montgomery was surprised to hear Naomi's tank was taken out quickly. From the her erratic screams as her tank was shooken up, it seeemed like Ōarai knew they were coming and where.

"Hmmm…" Montgomery pondered his action. Was he being watched? He looked around from his position behind a building.

"Something wrong commander?" the loader asked him.

"Oh it's nothing Frank… These girls are actually getting on my nerves."

"You're the commander sir. We'll follow your every order."

Montgomery looked at him, "Even if we're just throwing ourself into a grinding machine?"

"Well… I just want you know where our hearts are at the moment."

Montgomery sighed. "Well then," He said folding up his map. "If they are predicting where we'll be. The only case is to be as unpredictable as they are."

"Are we charging again sir?" The driver call through.

"You're damn right. Let's show them 'Shock and Awe'. We know these buildings better than them."

The driver chuckled as he revved up the engine.

* * *

Miho heard the loud Meteor engine running from two directions. North and Southwest. "All team members! Get ready! Looks like they're looking to be aggresive now! Momoga! Nekoya! Do you see anything?"

" _I see one to the west of your direction. Golly! It's fast! That's a sharp turn!_ " Momoga radioed in.

"Nekoya, how about y-" Miho said before the turning of dirt to her right caught her attention. A Comet emerged from the middle of the village and is doing a drift on the dirt speeding towards them.

"Hana!" Miho yelled as the turret started traversing. The Comet zoomed towards them and diverted to the left as the turret was about to meet. The Comet I lined up its sight and fired at the Hetzer as it was passing by, a violent crash and a small mechanical flip of a white flag follow.

" _DAMN!_ " Momo's voice was heard.

" _Sorry Miho! We're out!_ " Anzu said as the Comet I sped past them and behind the cover of the buildings before anyone could acquire it.

" _Mi-Miho, they're fast…_ " Nekoya said.

"Stay up there! It'll be too dangerous going back to your tank now!"

" _Too late!_ " Piyotan said before another shot rang out somewhere in the village and smoke rose to the northwest. Anteater team's tank was gone.

"No!" Miho cried.

" _We'll stay up there looking for them!_ " Momoga said. " _It's coming from the east!_ "

Darjeeling and Miho's turret swung east as they saw the Comet present itself. Drifting towards them, Hana and Assam fired the guns, but the shells bounced off the turret or didn't affect it at all. It started speeding towards them and took another shot at them. A loud metal _CLANG_ could be heard following the shot and the Comet whizzed past before drifting behind cover.

" _Darjeeling to Miho. We've lost a track._ "

Miho couldn't react to the speed of the Comets fast enough. They were coming and going, taking their shot before quickly moving to cover before they could acquire a shot. Was this the quality of Tankery-class practitioners? They were down by two tanks so quickly and now it is three to five, with Darjeeling's Churchill following soon without its mobility.

" _Miho, use our tank as a shield from the next charge_."

"B-but."

" _Miho, will you do what is necessary to win?_ "

"Huh?"

" _In times of war, will you do anything it takes to win?_ "

"U-Uh…"

" _Miho! Comet's coming from the North!_ " Nekoya's voice was frantic.

The North side would give the incoming Comet a view on the Churchill's side armor. One pass and it was over for St. Gloriana. Miho looked at the situation and understood.

As the Comet zoomed towards the Churchill, it fired and cracked at the side armor, knocking out the last St. Gloriana tank in the match. However, passing the large Churchill suspensions, the Panzer IV hiding on the other shot took a shot at its side armor point blank range. The Comet was flung from its inertia and the kinetic energy, tumbling in barrels as it crashed into a building, flag up.

"Three more…" Miho thought at the bleak situation.

" _Miho!_ " Momoga voice cracked through. " _The enemy tanks! They're here! Southeast side!_ "

* * *

Emma's Achilles was climbing up the hill. From the radio transmissions, Montgomery was the only one left up there, Naomi's and Geroge's Comets were destroyed by Ōarai. "Not bad," was what she thought about this event.

The Achilles were terrible choice in close-quarter combat, but at this stage, there was nothing else to lose. With only two tanks left to eliminate, Ōarai's defeat drew near.

One hell of a practice match.

They made it to the top, and saw Miho's Panzer IV amidst the destruction of a Jagdpanzer 38(t), Churchill, and a Comet I.

"Fire at that Panzer IV!" Emma ordered.

"On the way!" Edwards said as he pulled the trigger. Her Achilles and the one to her right fired, but the Panzer IV immediately pulled backa and the shells crashed into a building, creating a huge hole in the wall.

" _Trap that Panzer IV!_ " Montgomery called in. " _Watch both sides of the village for them. I'll draw them out!_ "

"Roger that!" Emma replied. "Gunner! Traverse left!"

" _VC! We've got a situation he- Gah!_ " The commander of the nearby Achilles said before two large clangs were heard on her right. She looked and saw that the Achilles was turning to face its front to the right. Making out from the dust, Emma saw rabbit-logo M3 Lee idling there... menacingly.

* * *

"That's payback!" Aya shouted as Saki flicked in a 37 mm round.

"Here's another one for you!" Ayumi cried as she picked up another 75 mm shell for her gun.

Soon, a volley of heavy machine gun fire came back and clattered the entire tank. Azusa once again ducked inside the commander's cupola.

"Oh no, not this time!" Azusa said as she clenched her teeth and gripped her seat hard. Getting shot at the first time was near traumatic, but now they know better. "No runing away this time!"

"Loaded!" Aya shouted.

"Loaded!" Ayumi shouted.

"Fire!" Azusa commanded and two consequtive crashes of the guns fired. The 37 mm and 75 mm both struck at a single point on the Achilles in front of them. Explosion of the impact sparked and soon a white flag came up.

"We did it!" Karina shouted out the top of her lung.

"Yes!" The crew shouted, well except Saki, who pumped her hand above her head. Then the whole tank shook violent backwards. The M3 Lee weighed about 30 short tons, but the energy of the 17-pounder shell still propelled the M3 Lee backwards a few feat with an impact straight on the frontal hull.

A white-flag was up and it was over for Rabbit Team.

* * *

"We're the only ones left Miporin," Saori gloomily notifies.

"But there is only two left…" Miho notes. "Too late to go back now! Let's go girls!"

Mako shifted gears and the Panzer IV was speeding along the combination of dirt and stone roads. Outnumbered, the only chance is to kill the two tanks one by one.

"Maneuver through the village, use the buildings for cover!"

"Roger…" Mako said with her usual enthusiastic voice and continued a steady course of a winding pattern between the buildings.

" _Miho! The last Achilles is still at the Southeast side of the village! Aiming its guns towards the north!_ " Momoga notified.

"Roger! Any words on that Comet?"

" _No words Miho… Momoga and I don't see it…_ " Nekoya said.

"Hmm…" Miho thought on her options. Was the Comet waiting for an ambush? Or was there something Miho wasn't counting on? "Move in on that lone Achilles through the west side."

"Okay…" Mako changed directions and headed around the far side of the village. Hana was kept her eyes on the optics and her hands steady, waiting for any sudden commands or tanks to appear. It was a risky gamble now.

About a minute past as the Panzer IV throttled along the dirt until they come to the southeast clearing of the village. Sure enough, the last Achilles was still there. Seeing them, the Achilles began backing up.

"Hana, fire!" Miho ordered.

"Firing!" Hana yelled and pulled the trigger. The shell flew past the Achilles as it backed away past the trajectory. As Yukari loads another round, the Achilles was backing away from the Panzer IV's line of sight behind a building.

"Mako, catch it!" Miho ordered. Mako sped the Panzer IV up towards the Achilles direction, turning a right before the building the Achilles was at, turning left, and catching the bare side of the Achilles' sloped armor.

"Hana, Fir-"

"NOT YET!" A loud yell and an accompanied engine roar, a roar louder than anything Miho's has heard since the time Leopon used their Tiger to destroy the bridge in the nationals. Miho turned to look at the source of the sound behind the Panzer IV, only to see Montgomery out of his Comet cupola ramming right into the Panzer IV's rear.

Such a violent buckling in the tank that Miho was almost thrown off the turret. Mako quickly applied the right track brakes and the Panzer IV used the momentum to swerve right. Continually applying the throttle, Mako tries to swerve the Panzer IV all the way around to get the Comet I in its sight. The Comet I was traversing right at the Panzer IV. In a split second, the Panzer IV and the Comet I had their guns pointed point-blank at their turret front.

The commanders stared down each other in a still heartbeat. As though two knights on horseback have their swords at each other's throat, looking for that chink of armor to stab through. Time slowed as Miho and Montgomery made their conscious decisions, not as students, but as true tankers.

"FIRE!"

* * *

 **Good gosh!  
**

 **It is not easy to write a tank fight scene.**

 **But I did it. The British Cadets vs. Ōarai. I actually thoroughly enjoyed writing some of the scenes. I plan for more epic things when I get the other countries involved, especially since it will involve massive tank vs. tank combat that hasn't been seen since Kursk.**

 **But I hope everything was easy to follow. I take multiple perspectives and signify them with the line breaks, with the additions of locations to show that we're going to a completely new location.**

 **Anyways, thanks for all the support everyone who's been with me till now! If you look forward to whats next, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story!  
**

 **And a Happy Halloween!**


	6. Friends Close, Enemies Closer

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **C** **hapter 6: Friends Close, Enemies Closer**

 **Bovington Training Grounds - Bovington, England**

The announcement speakers buzzed amongst the destruction. Debris of tracks and various tank parts were strewn about on the plain. The air had a fresh smell of gasoline and diesel in the air. The aftermath of the battle was violent to the landscape, but it wouldn't get any more worse than this now.

Armored recovery vehicles of the 3rd RTR cadets were already dragging the downed vehicles to the repair shops. A whole lot of work as ahead of the mechanics, with a grand total of 20 vehicles lost. Some enthusiastically look forward to overtime pay, others for the experience working on foreign tank designs, but many were groaning about their cup of tea on the extra work they've been assigned.

Nevertheless, the match was decided on the middle hill of the training grounds between the Panzer IV, Comet, and the Achilles.

"The match is over!" The referee declared through the sound system. "THIRD ROYAL TANK REGIMENT IS VICTORIOUS!"

A cry could be heard from the cadets and the spectators as they screamed and cheered. A wholehearted joy spread amongst them.

Miho only looked at that distance where the sound had come from. A far way from the training grounds, possibly in the nearest town or maybe at the museum itself.

In the end, her Panzer IV was defeated. The traded shots between the two tanks hit true, but the Panzer IV's gun shot too high, hitting the top of the turret and grazing off. The Comet shot true into the flat turret front of the Panzer IV. The vibration deafened her and left her disoriented, not realizing what had happened until she saw the flag pop out near her turret ventilation.

She sighed and looked at her hands. They were grimed with oil and dust.

"Miho, are you alright?" Hana asked from the turret.

"Yeah, I'm fine Hana," Miho responded.

"Sorry about the last shot, I thought it would do it for us."

"It's alright Hana. Even if we took out the Comet, the Achilles would've done us in before we've loaded the next round." Miho assessed. In the end, she was in a disadvantageous situation and she made the most of it.

Miho climbed out of the busted Panzer IV as the rest of the crew prepared to disembark. Touching the ground, she looked at the carnage. The Panzer IV skidded back a good three feet after being hit from the Comet. A large black mark remained at the impact location of the shell.

"Hey," Montgomery said to Miho from her right, having climbed out of his Comet I.

"Hi Montgomery," Miho said to the cadet commander.

He took off his stained gloves and extended his hand. "You did good, 'Legend'. I see how the name started now."

"Oh please don't," Miho said bashfully. "You beat me fair and square."

"You sure?" Montgomery said. "I brought along a full line-up of higher caliber tanks against your ragtag bunch and you manage to eliminate nine of eleven of them. Had I not shown up to help Emma, you surely would have a chance to win it all."

"But I didn't…"

"Regardless Miho Nishizumi, for first timers going against trained personnels, you must realize your feats are already unpar to other groups."

Miho was still uncomfortable with the assurance. "Don't worry Miporin! You did great!" Saori said while patting her on the back, hard.

"I don't think we've ever reacted that quickly in a match before…" Mako said.

"In the end, it was all exciting and fun!" Hana said.

"Don't worry Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari shouted. "We'll be much better next time!"

Miho smiled at her crew. "You have a natural skill as a commander Miho," Montgomery said. "And also the trust of your comrades. Use them properly and I'm sure you'll be more successful next time."

"Thanks Montgomery"

"Heh, not that I will go easy on you next time," Montgomery said. "I won't be pulling any punches then."

"Taunting them again Commander?" Emma said, having disembarked her Achilles.

"Pssh, again?" Montgomery dismissed. "I'm a person who recognize skill when I see it and incompetency."

"Uuhh, heh heh," Miho nervously laughed.

"Regardless, all of your tanks are a shamble," Montgomery states. "Would you like to submit them to our mechanics?"

"Really? I wouldn't like to trouble you like that."

"Oh please, they love to get their hands on different equipments. Gives them a change of pace."

A few Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicles was making its way towards them. The joy of the playing field being right near the base camp is the enhanced logistics.

"I would take up your offer then Montgomery."

"Marvelous. Would you and the others also like to join us for the dinner banquet? We always have room for more."

"Ooh, I'd love that!" Hana reacted.

Miho smiled at the kind offer. "I think we would love that!

* * *

 **Chow Hall at** **Bovington Camp - Bovington, England**

It wasn't a pristine restaurant, or a place one would take guests to for an honorary meal. But the cadets have their ways and the mess hall was cleaned up beautifully for presentation.

"Look at all that weird dishes!" Karina yelled out pointing at the serving counters.

"Perhaps this is a good time to experience British fine dining?" Montgomery said.

"Oh yes!" Hana delightfully said, eager to eat.

"That looks delicious!" Yukari enthusiastically agreed.

Montgomery gave out a hearty laugh. "Eat it while it last, we never have leftovers."

Miho looked at the large assortment of dishes the chefs have cooked up. It reminded her a lot of the aftermath of the match against Anzio with their feast. Everyone was jubilant in that room. Some of the cadets already eating looked like they just came straight from the tanks, their face darkened from the grime of a tank.

"Well! It ain't going anywhere with us standing here!" Anzu said. "Let's go girls!"

"Yay!" The girls cheered as they dispersed among the crowd. Miho going along with a plate.

* * *

"So you're the gunner in the Panzer IV?" Ben asked the woman who is gracefully scarfing down a large plate of food.

"Hmm?" Hana looked at the young man who asked. "Yes, that was me."

"Wow really? Nice shooting," Ben said.

"Which tank were you in?"

"The Cromwell on the middle hill."

"Oh! The one doing loops around us."

"Yeah…"

"My name's Ben" He said while extending a hand.

"Isuzu," Hana said, taking his hand and shaking.

"How long have you been doing Tankery?"

"About a year now."

" _Only_ a year? You're a natural, just like your commander."

"Is that so?"

"What is this? Fraternizing with the enemy?" A voice came behind Ben with a man who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"No Corporal," Ben said, standing up and facing the man.

"I kid, I kid," Harvey reassured. "Who's this?"

"She's Ms. Isuzu. Isuzu, this is my tank commander, Harvey."

"Nice to meet you," Hana said.

"Same to you," Harvey said taking a seat. "So which tank were you in?"

"The Panzer IV."

"Oh? You're the one that shot us?"

"Yes, I was the gunner."

"Nice shooting. Not a lot of people could track us when we start circling them," Harvey said. "Cromwells are one of the fastest British tanks in World War II."

"Thank you," Hana said. "Though I think you're marksmanship on the move could use some work."

"Yeeaah, we need to work on that," Harvey said while slowly eyeing Ben.

"What?"

* * *

"So I was like! BAM! Then I got it!" Aya said.

"I'm not sure it was exactly like that…" Azusa said.

"No, no, don't worry. It's still entertaining," Emma said as she listened in to Aya's retelling."

"Anyways, that's how we got the Achilles be the heels!"

"By the heels!" Karina shouted along.

Rabbit team were jovial despite the loss, but with the atmosphere, feeling down wasn't an option. Emma had come over as part of a after-action review with them, but they were more interested in their own little worlds.

"Have you seen 'Troy' Emma?" Yuuki asked her.

"Er, yes. Aren't you all a bit young to be seeing a movie like that?" Emma asked, wondering about the rating system in Japan.

"I just have my parents mail it to me," Karina said. "They don't mind!"

"I don't know if that's being open or irresponsible…"

"Well! It's not like you can make us unwatch it!" Karina said in a rebellious child-like tone.

"What other movies do you know about Emma?" Azusa asked.

"Me? Well… I like the movie 'Bridge Too Far',"

"The one by Richard?" Ayumi perked up.

"Yeah, that one."

"That was a good one!" Aya affirms.

"What about 'The Longest Day'?" Yuuki asked.

"Never finished it," Emma said.

"Oh, it's wonderful. You've gotta finish it," Azusa said.

Emma smirked, "Alright, I'll get to it when I can."

The girls chat about the few movies they've seen, but then transitioned quickly back to the match.

"But yeah, Karina, you were hella scared when those machine gun bullets started to fly huh?"

"Oooh!" Karina gritted, "that was completely BS! That won't happen again! Whoever shot that machine gun at us must've been a jerk!"

"Ah ha ha, yeah… we have a few of those in the force," Emma said innocently.

"Well I don't think someone nice like Emma would do something like that right?" Azusa said that caught Emma's attention. Though she noted that Azusa winked at her after finishing that sentence.

"Uh, right! No I wouldn't," Emma said nervously.

"Welp!" Aya said, "I don't think we'll have something like that again in the future matches!"

"Oh yeah?" Emma said, "Wait 'till you see the Americans."

* * *

"Uhhh, Hi!" Saori said.

"Hey," Mac said nonchalantly while eating his meal.

"I-I'm Takebe! Takebe Saori!"

"Right."

"..."

"U-um, c-could I-"

"Are you alright miss?" Mac said looking at her. Her face was flushed and almost the shade of a ripe tomato.

"M-maybe not…" Saori said. _Dang this guy is hot!_

"You want me to call a medic?"

"NO! No, no, I'm fine."

"..."

"So…, you want to si-"

"Sorryfordisturbingokaybye!" Saori quickly said before sipping out of that situation.

Frank just looked at the scene stunned. "Huh, that was… interesting."

"Yeah, never seen a girl run away from you screaming." Edwards said across him. "Hope that didn't harm your good looks."

"No, she's the peculiar one if anything."

* * *

"So that's what it was? You knew I was there from scouting?" Naomi said towards the three gamers on their portables.

"Yep," Nekonya said. "We climbed high and just observed for you, then radioing Miho to let her know where you are."

"Damn! Why didn't I think that I was seen!" Naomi cursed to herself.

"Not to mention when you exposed yourself, the Comet made it impossible to back away properly right?" Momoga asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Naomi confirmed. "I guess that's why I'm still Lance Corporal. I've only been in the cadets for less than a year."

"Mistakes can be made," Piyotan said. "Just learn from them. It's kinda like a video game. When you die, just respawn and use something different to attack."

"Unless you play Dark Souls," Momoga said, "then just cry."

Naomi just sighed. "You guys must be quite gifted. To have her as your commander, you all can go far with her."

"Well, we didn't exactly get a good start when we first started as well," Piyotan said. "When we first started, we were the first ones knocked out in a match, didn't even fire off a shot."

"Really?"

"Yep, so at least you got to near the end of the match. You'll be fine, not like those Cromwells."

"Huh, thanks."

Nekonya went back to her game, "Augh! My SPG got destroyed!"

* * *

"So how different would you have done it when you go all out Montgomery?" Miho asked.

"Well, first I would bring out the maximum allowed tanks for the fight," Montgomery explained, sitting to Miho's right. "I'd also equip my men with their standard gear."

"Standard gear?" Yukari asked, sitting to Miho's left.

"They'd have their offensive gear on, namely their personal defense weapons and sidearms like the STEN submachine gun."

"You'd shoot us?"

"More like against any scouts you may have. Anyways, everything else is confidential until the day we actually match up again."

"It's like you underestimated Miho's ability in a Tankery match, isn't it Montgomery?" Darjeeling said, sitting across the trio.

"I must admit, you impressed me Miho Nishizumi. I'll make sure you won't surprise me again."

"Oh I hope she will again!" Yukari said.

"She can try, but my men will be ready for it."

"Eh, heh heh," Miho chuckled. "But I wonder how we'll find a way to defend ourselves from being shot outside the tank."

"Most tank casualty in history are due to tankers leaving the safety of their tank armor," Darjeeling informed.

"Don't worry about it," Montgomery said, "the only way to stop someone from shooting you is to shoot back."

"But we don't have those kinds of firearms," Yukari said. "At least, not that I know of."

"Not to worry, there are stores around here that sells that for military or Tankery-affiliated personnel," Montgomery said. "We can head to one of those tomorrow if you want."

"You'd help us with that?" Miho said,feeling very grateful to this man who takes his time to help these students he's just met.

"Of course! But you'll have to use your own funds. We don't have much room in our budget."

"Funds… Okay! I'll just have to ask the president about that," Miho said.

"Also, Miho," Montgomery interjected, "it doesn't matter how skilled your little band are." He says while looking over Miho's team chatting along with his cadets. "You're going to be outnumbered in the tournament with the other countries there. How do you plan on supplementing your forces?"

"I'm not sure…" Miho now pondered on that problem. "But I'll ask the president, see if there are any luck finding new Sensha-dou members."

"I wish you best of luck then," Montgomery said before Miho got up from her seat, leaving Yukari and Montgomery there.

"Sooo…" Yukari said to the now distant Montgomery, "What kind of firearms does this shop sell?"

* * *

Miho was walking along when she noticed she was being followed.

"Darjeeling?" She looked back and saw the blonde lady there, without her signature tea cup.

"Hmm?" Darjeeling said there, anticipating this conversation.

"Back then, in the match, why did you say that?"

"About doing what is necessary to win? Perhaps I just want to tap into your inner champion."

"Inner champion?"

"The one that helped Ōarai win both the nationals and against University," Darjeeling said, "The same champion that overcame all odds to achieve victory."

"You mean my 'Legend'?"

"There is a very big difference from your fights against us in the two matches we've had together back in Japan, and your fights when you fight for survival of your school." Darjeeling notes. "It's almost like a new person, a new persona, from you."

"You think so?" Miho asked.

"'Like a wounded animal', do you know the phrase?"

"Can't say I do…"

"A desperate animal, trapped from escape, will be more vicious to its foe than ever before," Darjeeling explained. "When you fight against Pravda, Kuromorimine, and University, did you know you fought with more vigor than your previous matches?"

"Can't say I've been looking that deeply into it…" Miho said, wondering where she was going with this.

"When we're in this tournament against the world, there is nothing against you now. You're free from responsibility of saving your school. I'm worried you might be getting soft," Darjeeling said. "If we're going to win this tournament Miho, I need you to fight as if your life depends on it." Darjeeling said this looking right at Miho's eye, looking for any shred of determination Miho might still have.

"O-okay Darjeeling, I'll try my very best!"

"Hmm," Darjeeling said before assuming her standard, calm pose. "Well I suppose I'm just getting too excited for the world tournament, I don't want to watch you lose too quickly in the first round."

"I won't! Promise!"

"Fabulous!" Darjeeling clapped. "Regardless, the match against Montgomery definitely showed me I must improve our equipment. More firepower or speed. Our Churchill was the only adequate piece of equipment out there, Rosehip's Crusader is too thinly armored for its speed and Rukuriri's Matilda is simply too slow and undergunned."

"What will you do about it?"

"See what I can scrounge up from our storage or with our funds," Darjeeling said. "We've been trying to upgrade for a while now after our experience against University, but this match just now show a clear need for this reorganization."

"Alright then," Miho said, "I'll look forward to it!"

"Anyways, I must get going now Miho, I'll see you another time," Darjeeling said before parting ways.

"Bye!"

* * *

"Sorry Miho," Anzu said, chewing on a piece of dried sweet potatoes, "But there's no new club members for our team this year."

"Eh?!" Miho was surprised, after all that's happened the last year, surely there would be some new people interested in the Sensha-Dou club! "Why not?"

"Well, we do have more funds to work with, we actually don't have enough to buy a new tank…" Anzu said, "A good percentage is already going into maintaining the ones we have."

"Do we have any we can use though?" Miho asked. "We'll need to purchase some new gears for the World Tournament!"

"Yeah, we've got some surplus, I'll hand you the fund data later back on the ship," Anzu said.

Regardless, the lack of new club members, not to mention any new tanks, mean that Ōarai is in quite a pickle once more. They only had eight tanks, and the rule book for Tankery has a lowest maximum at thirty. Ōarai will be outnumbered tremendously if they don't figure it out.

"Don't worry about it Miho," Anzu said.

"Huh?"

"We'll figure something out. It seems the International League are just as lenient in the team-making process as the Japanese nationals were, so we'll be able to add new members even if it is half-way through the overall tournament."

"I guess so…" Miho was still uneasy, but they didn't have any immediate solutions so it was no use trying to do something about it now.

"It's alright Miho! Just enjoy yourself here! The food's great, very different from the cafeteria's."

"Uh, okay!" Miho said before going back to her dining area next to Yukari and Montgomery.

"Seriously Anzu," Momo said, "What _do_ we do about this?"

"I dunno. But we've still got a few days before the first I.L. meeting happens so we've got until then to sort things out."

"This is quite a reckless way to do this…" Yuzu chimes in.

"Has any of our methods not been?"

* * *

 **Train Yard - Bovington, England**

"Thank you very much for the food!" All the girls said to the cadets as they are about to leave.

"Don't mention it!"

"Visit us again!"

"Cheers mate!"

Various responds came back from the small crowd of cadets seeing them off. Ōarai's tank were all already fixed up before the meal and were loaded onto the flat cars on the train. Emma and Montgomery were with them to see them off safely. The trains departed at 9:00 PM and made its way through the country back to Portsmouth for their trip back to the carrier. Tomorrow was still another big day for them as they browse for the materials needed for the Tankery matches.

"It's as pretty as ever in the night," Hana noted as she looked out the window.

"Yeah…" Miho said, admiring the scene.

"Are you trying to change the topic again Hana?" Yukari voice piped up. "You ate almost a quarter of the entire meal served and you don't look any different."

"Oh my, did I?" Hana said in a realization.

"Huh?" Miho also noted. She didn't see the amount Hana ate, but the stack of plates beside her in the end didn't escape her eyes, nor did it escape the cadets who were eyeing her appetite.

"How embarrassing," Hana bashfully said.

"Well, then again… you always had big portions in meals back at school."

"No, you see, I was on a diet and now I've gone and ruined it…"

"Speaking of ruins…" Yukari said eyeing at an orange slump of depression next to Hana, which Mako is sitting on nonchalantly. "What happened to you Saori?"

Saori was completely out of it, mumbling incoherent sentences as she laments on something she did.

"Earth to Saori?" Yukari asked again.

"Saori tried talking to a hot guy and it blew up in her," Mako said with the most deadpan face possible.

Hearing the recount of her actions, Saori exploded, "AAAAARRRGGGHHHH!" Before collapsing again in a sobbing mess.

Suppose curses are real?

* * *

 **Next Day - Portsmouth Port, England**

Another early day, the girls disembarked the ferries again on the port at a time before noon. No tanks this time, no tank uniforms, just casual clothes of tourists.

It was just Anglerfish team this time that came to shore. They've shown the appropriate papers to the customs and are now waiting at the pick-up area for their ride.

" _Handling more than 30 people in a foreign urban area in a shopping trip with not enough chaperones, it's just unsafe_ ," Miho recounted what Anzu said. " _You do the shopping, see what we need and that stuff. Here's the funds, feel free to use up the surplus if you want._ "

Miho sighed as she looked at a prepaid card in her hand. In hindsight, this was for the best, with just the five doing the work so no one will get lost.

"We're meeting Montgomery around here right?" Saori said.

"He's to pick us up here as usual…" Miho said.

A mini-van soon stopped in front of them, with a sliding door opening, "Ey, get in losers."

"Hi Emma," Miho said. Emma was in casual clothes of jeans and a orange t-shirt with a light grey sweater on top.

"Ready for a day of shopping? Because I know I am!" Emma said back.

"So am I!" Yukari says eagerly.

"Alrighty, anytime you want, just get into the passenger seats," Montgomery said from the driver seat.

"Are you off the military today?" Hana asked as the girls got in.

"On short leave, got permission from the instructor for today," Montgomery said. "Buckle up!"

Once the side door closed again with everyone at their seat, the van lurched forward at high speed, the inertia throwing the girls onto the back rest.

"Oh yeah, Montgomery's a terrible driver, but he'll get you there safe."

The girls weren't so sure on that 10 minutes into the drive.

* * *

 **Somewhere in Portsmouth, England**

The van finally stopped in a parking space.

"Alright! We're here!" Montgomery said enthusiastically as he looked back.

"Can Emma drive on the way back?" Saori asked pleadingly as she caught her breath.

"My blood pressure has never been higher…" Mako said, out of breath.

"Eh, nope, I don't have a driver license yet," Emma said. "Sorry!"

"Well, let's get this over with," Yukari said as she quickly grab the door handle and opening it, hopping out quickly and her face pleased to have her foot back on stable ground.

The girls were all now deep in Portsmouth, still near the coast as the waves could be heard in a distance, but they surely weren't near the port they came in from.

"Alright, here it is," Montgomery said, looking at a rather large store.

"' _Panzer Glory'_?" Yukari read the sign of the place.

"It's a famous international company for supplies for the Tankery community," Emma said. "You've never heard of it?"

"Nope, never heard of it before," Yukari said. If she didn't see it, no one did.

"Oh well, we're not gonna see it from here, let's go inside." Montgomery states as he enters through the glass doors.

The girls followed. The store had only one floor for its merchandise, but it has a huge amount of merchandise for sale. Tank parts, repair services, ammunition, decoration, spray paints, all the important components to make a tank run were available inside.

"It's a lot like that store on the carrier!" Saori said.

"But bigger!" Yukari corrects. "Look at all that! Those are premium-quality parts there! These go for thousands back home!"

Miho was surely impressed at the assortment of materials available to them. Especially the engine parts, there are some good ones that can increase the efficiency of Ōarai's tanks. All of it is League-approved too so they would be interesting buys.

"Come over here, these are probably your most important things you need," Montgomery said, waving them over to a counter where a staff was standing at. "Hey Jerry. Jerry, Jerry, Jerry. How've you been?"

"Nice to see you again Montgomery," the man, Jerry, said with a chipper English accent. "Brought along more young recruits?"

"Actually, their my guests. They're from overseas, not used to the League's Tankery, y'see."

"Ah, beginners then?" Jerry said eyeing Miho and the others.

"Yeah, get the usual."

"Alright, just wait a moment," Jerry said as he went through a back door.

A television set was on at a roof corner of the store. It was on a news channel and Miho took interest on it when she saw what the subject was.

" _And now we move on to our out-of-country field reporter, George Jackson."_

The scene transitioned to a middle-aged man at what seems to be a military practice range.

" _Good afternoon everyone. I'm currently in front of a practice range of Germany's most prestigious tanking school, the 'Carius Academy'. The current champions from the last World Tournament. As you can see from their Panthers over there doing their maneuvers, they're still pumped up about the upcoming World Tournament exhibition matches and don't plan to go easy to their competitors!"_

"Panthers huh?" Miho saw the tanks that belonged to this German team. If a team is even willing to show some form of their line-up to the world, they must be really confident.

" _I have right here with me, the commander of these cadets, who's taken his valuable time to talk with us today. Mr. Kraus, thank you for joining us."_

" _It's a pleasure,"_ The young, blonde man in a dark olive green uniform said with a German accent. Miho noted that his uniform somewhat resembled a German tanker from in World War II, complete with a M43 office cap on. He was of average height, a must to fit in tanks properly, and had most of his tanking equipment on with the exception of his headset which was wrapped around his neck. A pistol holster was present on his utility belt, with various of other World War II-era tools.

" _Mr. Kraus, as the current champions of the International League's World Tournament, how do you feel about the coming exhibition matches?"_

" _Ja, I think it is an excellent opportunity for us to see what our opponent's plans are in their matches. We see how they fight, we adapt, and then we crush them in the real deal two years from now."_

" _You seem awfully chipper, do you think any of them have a chance against the other contenders?_ "

" _Absolutely. We utterly annihilated our competitors two years ago, and we've only increased our standards for our applicants. I am confident in my troops' ability to destroy our opponents._ "

"Cheeky bastard," Montgomery said, also watching the screen.

"You've met him before?" Miho asked.

"Axel Kraus," Montgomery said, "Commander of Carius Academy's Tankery team. He led his team to victory two years ago in the World Tournament."

"Were you there Montgomery?"

"Ah yes," Montgomery said fiddling with a pen. "I was just a regular cadet sergeant back then… Our team didn't get past the second rounds against Carius."

"Oh…" Miho thought before Jerry came back from the back.

"Here 'ya go," he said before setting down weapons of war.

"Guns?" Saori said looking at them.

"Don't worry," Montgomery reassured. "They won't bite." He said this as he picked one of them up. "Walther P-38 pistols, adapted to League standards. You can't fire real bullets out of this even if you have it. The pressure will mess up the internals," Montgomery said as he inspected one of them. "Good ergonomics with a light recoil, perfect for beginners like you lot."

"Here, come hold them if you want, get a feel," Jerry said. Miho looked at the pistols and reached in for one. It was heavy for its size as Miho feeled it in her palm, grasping the grip with one hand. Analyzing it, she moved her hand with the pistol a bit, being aware of where she was pointing the pistol. She inspected the internals by pulling the slide back a bit. Closing it, she instinctively pointed the gun at a direction and looked down the sights.

"Hey, you a natural on firearms too?" Montgomery asked.

"Huh?"

"The way you hold that P-38, this isn't your first time with a firearm?"

Miho looked at how she was handling her P-38, then looked at her friends. Aside from Yukari, who seemed comfortable with it, the others were somewhat confused on how to operate the machine. "No… It's our first time with firearms."

"Interesting, next thing you know you're pulling bulls eyes with that."

"Will this even be allowed on the school carrier?" Hana asked.

"The League's been able to pull ropes on schools on jurisdictions with restrictive firearm laws. I'm sure with proper approval you can store them on your ship," Montgomery explained.

"Oh okay."

Miho continued looking at the pistol. _Am I going to use this to shoot someone?_ Miho thought.

"Do you want to try it out in our test range?" Jerry asked the girls.

"That's a great idea, get them use to it as well," Montgomery chipped in.

"Um, okay!" Miho replied, "Thank you very much!"

* * *

It was just beyond the back room Jerry came from, after going through a double soundproof doors, the 50 meter concrete range was there.

"Eyes and ears," Jerry said, handing out safety glasses and earmuffs. The girls put them on.

"Now here," Montgomery said carrying a small box, "are league-approved ammunition." Montgomery proceeds to open the box and showing a bunch of brass cased cartridges, something similar to the tanks shells they've been using for all things considered.

"If you can feel the tip here," Montgomery said passing out a pullet, "it's rubber and flat-nosed. It won't cause major harm if it hits you." Miho took one and felt the bullet tip, though slightly hard, it was definitely designed to not penetrate skin.

"Alright, let's go over how you should load the rounds," Jerry said. They went over the operation of the P-38 pistols and safety procedures. Don't point it at anyone you're not willing to fire on, know what is behind the target, always assume it is loaded, and keep fingers off trigger before firing.

After the short briefing, the girls were given their own ranges and told to load their pistols. Individual instructors were assigned to each of the girls to make sure nothing wrong happens. Once properly loaded, the girls were told to fire the pistol at a target already set up down the range.

Miho aimed the target with one arm, feeling it as natural, and aligned the sights with her eyes. She fired the eight rounds, each shot recoiled her aim off target. Each time, she realigned the target to the center and fired again. Once empty, she was told to wait until the others were finished.

The instructors called in each targets, and up close Miho saw her shot placements on the paper targets. All of her shots landed in the center mass of the target.

"Nice shooting Miho, just like a natural," Montgomery said.

"R-really?" Miho admired her handiwork. She didn't think all her shots would hit her target, but there it was. "Thanks."

"Wow Nishizumi-dono! You that's quite a grouping!" Yukari said as she came over with her target paper. "Look at mine! I only hit it five times, and it's quite scattered!"

"That's still some nice shooting Yukari!" Miho admired her friend's work.

"Man! Shooting is scary!" Saori said as she came up to Miho. She was shaking her right hand, seemingly affected more by the recoil than Miho or Yukari was.

"I thought it was a pleasant feeling, almost like shooting the Panzer's gun." Hana said.

"Y'all weird," Mako said coming up.

"How did you do on your targets?" Miho asked

Hana had just held up her paper, seven of her shots hit on the target, "I believed I did alright."

"Nice job Hana!" Miho said, then looking towards Saori and Mako.

"Oh don't look at ours!" Saori said, revealing her paper. "I sucked! Mako was too!"

Their paper only had one or two hits on it.

"Maybe with practice you'll get better," Hana suggested.

"Oh really? When do you think I'll even use this gun?" Saori said pointing to her pistol resting on the shooter's bench. "I have a machine gun in front me the whole time in the tank! I'm not gonna poke my head out to shoot something! I'll just use that!"

"That's true…" Miho said.

"I'm gonna be driving the tank," Mako said, "It's an interesting new thing, but I don't think I'll have the time either."

"Well, it's not like you have to buy one for everyone," Montgomery said. "We're kind of supplied with it so we don't need to purchase each one, but we do issue our submachine guns on a limited basis…"

"Maybe three per tank?" Yukari suggested.

"Maybe, let's see what else there is to buy before we settle this," Miho said.

* * *

Back in the main store room, Jerry had set aside a number of P-38 for possible purchase. The girls were browsing the store for various items they may need. One thing that caught their eyes were specialized shells.

"Smoke rounds?" Saori looked curiously at one of the shells laid out for sell.

"It's a shell that creates smoke," Mako said.

"I can see that! Do we need it? We already have smoke dispensers on our tanks!"

"Well, it helps if we want to emit smoke from a distance," Yukari said. "But the Sherman tankers from World War II seem to be able to use the smoke rounds against infantry in buildings and even against tanks!"

"How do these things help against tanks?" Saori asked.

"Against the German tanks, the smoke would get into the crew compartment and make the crew's life horrid," Yukari explained. "Or they can trick the crew into thinking their engine is on fire. Even in the best case, the smoke round blinds the enemy from seeing what's going on."

"Sounds like an important thing to have in case," Miho said. "We should get a few."

"Hmm, it seems they only have smoke shells for 75 mm guns on the Shermans and Panzer IV…" Hana noted.

"It would work! It should on the M3, StuG, and Hetzer!" Yukari said excitedly

"Great! Let's get a few! If we can fit it into our budget that is…" Miho noted.

After adding that to their shopping list, they looked around for more interesting stuff.

"Lots of firearms here huh?" Hana noted.

"It's almost like they want the tankers to come off and fight person by person…" Saori suggested.

"Actually, its because of the scouting system," Emma said as he came up to them, surprising them.

"Ah! Where did you come from?" Saori asked.

"Was at the equipment center for crew comfort," Emma responded.

"What do you mean by scouting?" Yukari asked.

"Well, the reason why scouting system is suppose to oblige by the Geneva Convention is because we've had some… interesting cases of scouts."

"Huh?"

"Well, how do you usually do scouts?" Emma asked.

"It's a trade secret!" Yukari said, defending her tactics from exposal. "But it does involve sneaking into the enemy base."

"Well, we've been through some extreme cases of scouts in the past."

"How so?" Miho asked.

"There was a time years ago during a World Tournament when the Americans scouted…" Emma recounted, "via paratroopers."

"What?!"

"Yeah, accounts of the time said they just heard a plane fly overhead loudly. Next thing we knew, there was an alarm over the base. The Americans, they were rather aggressive with their League-approved firearms. They were forcing their ways toward our tank storage room and were busting through. They took down anyone who were in their way."

"This is legal?" Saori asked, trying to remember what was written in the rule book.

"Yep," Mako said. She must've already memorized the book.

"Yes, all legal," Emma confirmed. "So they managed to break in, got their intel, then escaped into the night. We're not sure how they got back home, but they did."

"Wow, a classical raiding assault," Yukari said.

"Then the cadets back then retaliated with another scouting party with the advice of some S.A.S. operatives. Didn't work out as well as the Americans did due to the geographics, but these events helped change the rules."

"They tried to restrict it?" Miho asked.

"Oh no, the League saw this as an increased competitiveness in their tournaments. They actually _encouraged_ this," Emma said. "So to fight back, the people guarding their tanks are armed with League-approved firearms so they can fight back against invaders. It's like an arm race between defenders and attackers now. An unofficial conflict in the tournaments. This is one of the reasons why military-oriented schools excel, they have the training and equipment to protect themselves. Although some large private schools are able to do the same."

The girls just took this new information with awe. This was a completely new thing to the whole perspective of Tankery.

"They're really just trying simulate a war huh?" Miho said.

"Sounds about right."

"Very interesting…" Miho pondered then looked at Yukari. Yukari had always sneaked in via uniforms, but if the opposing enemy's base is that vigilant against not just scouts, but raiding parties, they will have to think of something if they plan to gather intel on their opponents.

"Who's guarding the stuff? Can it be any contracted security guard?" Yukari asked.

"Oh no, the property with the tanks can only be guarded by the people affiliated with Tankery. So say if someone was to raid our base, us cadets are responsible to protect our tanks, but the security guards at the museum are not unless the attacking team break jurisdiction and attempt to hide in the museum. Basically, as long as its public space or the area where the defending team's tanks are held, no one else can interfere but the defending Tankery team."

"Thanks for that information Emma!" Yukari said.

"Oh, no problem," Emma responded.

As Emma left to go back to her business, Miho and the other girls were left wondering what to do about potential invaders, or how they would go about doing things now.

* * *

"Okay so," Miho was looking at the list they've drawn up. "Pistols for twenty, submachine guns for eight, magazines, one thousand League-approved 9 mm pistol ammunition, five thousand League-approved German 8 mm rifle ammunition, 30 smoke shells for American 75 mm and 100 smoke shells for German 75 mm."

"Not a bad loadout for Tankery beginners," Jerry said from behind the counter as he looked at the list. "We'll ship it over to the carrier once we get you that permit for League firearm possession. Might take a few days."

"We might need to order more in the future Miho," Yukari pointed out.

"Don't worry, we do international shipping," Jerry said. "Just call the number on this business card, or order online for our service."

"Oh! Thanks a lot mister!" Miho said gratefully.

"No problem, glad to help, helps you and helps me."

"Are we missing anything Montgomery?" Miho asked Montgomery, looking over their transaction.

"Maybe some crew equipments to deal with environments?" Montgomery suggested. "The World Tournament can take place anywhere in the world, be it mountainous terrain or the driest."

"I think we have stock of that on our ship…" Miho thought. Afer all, they had to buy all those winter equipment for that match against Pravda last year.

"Okay then, what about rifles?"

"Rifles?" Miho asked.

"Well, I see you've got the MP40 SMG in your list, but if you're taking 8 mm Mausers, take a few of those Mauser bolt rifles."

"Won't those long things be hard to use in a tank?" Saori asked.

"Not for your tanks, for your defense. If someone attacks, you might need more than firepower to fight back."

"Maybe next time…" Miho thought on it. She's more concerned on how any of the girls were going to use the rifle at all.

"Well, alright then," Montgomery said. "I suppose you're all right then other than the miscellaneous stuff."

"Okay then," Miho said, done with the list. They've got a lot of stuff to learn about Tankery. While there are lots of things that they would need for every situation possible, they can't prepare for every scenario. It'd be too expensive anyways. They may just have to improvise in the end. "I'd like to buy these, sir!"

* * *

 **Ōarai Carrier - South of Portsmouth Port, England.**

By the time they got back onto the Ōarai carrier, the sun was about setting.

"Man, Tankery is so different…" Yukari said to herself.

"I know, isn't it?" Saori said. "I wouldn't want to find myself in a middle of an attack…"

"Perhaps we should then prepare for them…" Hana said. "But we might need some more firepower for us fight back than with what we've bought."

"I'll think of something girls!" Miho said confidently. "The rules may be different, but if we can learn them inside and out, we can get through this!"

"Yeah!" Yukari pumped up, "everything is within reason! We're not getting that much of the short end of the rope!"

The girls thought about that with a rather happy note.

"So why do you think Montgomery was helping us so much?" Saori asked.

"What do you mean?" Miho asked.

"I mean, yeah, you'd help a newbie get into a new sport and stuff, but why'd he go this far? He could be our enemy in the future!"

"Maybe he just want to get to know us?" Yukari suggested.

"It's still a bit much, spending his whole day on us?"

"I think maybe you're thinking too much on it," Hana said.

"Maybe, but I'm not exactly easy on it."

"Yeah…" Miho thought about it. Though it certainly was a lot of efforts, nothing in their actions had potential malice. If anything, they gave them more than they gained from it.

Miho's phone rumbled, which Miho looked and saw one message from Anzu. "Looks like the prez wants me…"

"She must be eager to know what we've gotten," Hana mentioned.

"We'll, I guess she should know how much we've spent," Miho said.

"Well, let's go together!" Yukari suggested.

"Alright then…"

* * *

 **Student Council Room -** **Ōarai Carrier**

The student council room was as spacious as ever. Maybe because Anzu was tiny in comparison to the room that gave it the size perspective.

"So? How'd it go?" Anzu asked while chewing on her favorite snack, legs up on the desk.

"We got most of what we need that we couldn't get here," Miho replied.

"You got the receipt?" Yuzu asked.

"Ah, yes, it's…" Miho rustled through her pocket. "Here it is."

"Thanks!"

"What'd you get?" Momo asked.

"Well, we got specialized rounds for the 75s on the M3 Lee and German vehicles," Miho explained. "And also some pistols and sub machine guns."

"Why would we need that?" Momo asked, with a tone as she suspect unnecessary spendings.

"Well…" Miho said, readying for the long explanation.

After her explanation of how the scout system works now, the student councils were faced with the problem of school security.

"So you're saying we could be attacked for intel? Sounds rough," Anzu said.

"I-I thought maybe we could at least have the bare minimum with the guns…" Miho said, "Though I got them thinking for each tank commanders."

"We'll still have to teach them how to use them," Anzu brought up another problem, "Ah, but don't worry, I think I can handle that."

"Uh okay," Miho went along, "but I'm more concerned about our numbers. Eight tanks aren't going to be enough in this fight, even if it will be a flag tank match."

"We're still handling that, don't worry about it."

"I'm kinda worrying…" Miho expressed her growing concerns.

"Well, we have a while to get up to speed with this anyways, the drawings for the tournament isn't until a few days."

"Where is it anyways?" Yukari asked. "You said it was near here?"

"Oh, it's actually in Bovington Tank Museum," Anzu explained.

"There again?" Yukari was surprised, "is all the tank things happening there or something?"

"All the contenders invited by the League will meet there at a private meeting around 9:00 PM at this time zone," Momo explained. "We still got about two days before then."

 _Two days until the drawings for the match selections…_ Miho thought. They still have a lot of problems to iron out and solve if they want a chance in this tournament. Miho needed a way to get more people in her team…

"Wait," Miho said as she thought of something, "do you know if the World Tournament rules have anything against team composition?"

"Hmm?" Yuzu replied first, "Only that the teams already registered in the tournament cannot transfer, switch, or ally with another separate registered team."

"In that case… we can set up a team like the time with University right?!"

"When we get everyone from Japan into one team?!" Anzu caught on, "Genius Miho!"

"This might solve our team number issue!" Momo chimed in.

"Wow Miho! Genius!" Yukari said.

"Eh? No no, I just took something not mentioned in the rules…"

"We'll have to double check before we can make the calls anyways," Yuzu said. "But if it works, we have a much better chance in the World Tournament!"

Miho was relieved, they got one more problem solved, and it was a very important one as well. Gathering everyone together again for one big team… a nice get-together with friends wouldn't hurt…

And big sister…

"Oh!"

"What's wrong Miho?" Hana asked.

"Oh, don't worry," Miho replied. Inside however, she was wondering how Maho might react to all this. Does she know that Ōarai got the letter this year?

Maybe she'll call her later.

"Okay!" Anzu spoke up. "If Yuzu or Kawashima can't find anything against that, we'll call them up soon! I guess we could stay up a little late tonight to call them once they are awake in Japan.

Time zones.

"Alright!" Miho says, "We'll settle this in the early morning"

"Okay Miho Nishizumi!" Anzu said, "You're free to go!"

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment -** **Ōarai Carrier**

Miho finished cleaning herself up for the night. She looked at the time, 1 AM. That means it is around 10 AM in Japan right now. If Kuromorimine's schedule remains unchanged, Maho should be awake right now.

"Okay!" Miho said, steeling herself. "Here goes…" She punches in the numbers on her cell phone to Maho's phone. The digits in place, she pressed call.

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

 _[*Click*]_

 _[You have reached Maho Nishizumi. I'm currently unavailable right now. Please leave a message.]_

Miho sighed. _Well, Kuromorimine does have a busy schedule…_ "I'll just send her a message instead then."

Composing a short message of what has transpired since the start of school, she then went to bed, phone near her to see if her big sister would pick up. She didn't recall closing her eyes sleepily.

Miho woke up to the bright sunlight shining through her turquoise blinds. Realizing what happened, she reached out sleepily to her phone still where it laid and checked it.

No received messages.

No notifications.

"Hmm?" Miho looked at it curiously. Surely by now Maho would've at least seen it right?

Sitting upright on her bed, Miho dialed her sister's number one more time.

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

 _[*Click*]_

 _[You have reached Maho Nishizumi. I'm currently unavailable right now. Please leave a message.]_

…

"What the heck?"

* * *

 **And that is the aftermath!**

 **Details and more stuff. We see how Ōarai is preparing themselves for the Tankery fighting style and the introduction of the German team. Things kinda just flowed when I wrote and I ended up writing a lot more about the details spoken at the store than I thought, but I think it was an interesting development considering what I've been thinking for any of Ōarai's future scouting ventures.**

 **I think the next chapter is going to be shorter since it will focus on the tournament selections. But maybe I find a way to squeeze some details in. Who knows.**

 **Thanks for all the support everyone who's been with me till now! If you look forward to whats next, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story!**


	7. The Selections

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 7: The Selections**

 **Bovington Tank Museum, Orientation Room - Bovington, England**

It was late at night in England. Almost 9 PM, Miho was there with the rest of Anglerfish team and the student council.

"Wow, look at all these people!" Saori said, looking at the crowd inside a large orientation room, larger than the one they were in a few days ago. It was all set up like a formal party room, with platter of dishes around the rear and seats facing a presentation screen.

"Yes, it's large indeed." Hana replied while looking at all the exotic food.

"Alright, settle down you all," Momo said, "We've got to make a good impression among these people."

Miho agreed. If anything, it was a complete repeat of the time they were first at the selections for the nationals. They were the outcasts among the big names.

She along with the other girls had put on their tanker uniforms for the event. Though it wasn't anything to write home about compared with some of the fashion they've seen in the amphitheater, it was better and more formal than their school uniforms.

"Ahoy there!" A voice called out in the crowd.

"Ah! Montgomery!" Yukari greeting the British cadet sergeant. He was in the dress uniform of the cadets.

"See you've all made it on time. Is it just you lot?"

"The important ones at least," Anzu replied.

"Yeah…" Miho said, "the important ones…"

* * *

 **Yesterday - Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

"Huh?" Saori was surprised, "You couldn't contact your big sister?"

"Yeah… It's weird, she never ignores me like this," Miho said, trying to troubleshoot the problem here. "Do you think… maybe she's disappointed she didn't get the invitation instead?"

"Doubt it! Siblings like you two would never be one to put down the other just because of a simple blessing!" Saori affirms.

"Maybe something came up at Kuromorimine, there's a lot of thing that could prevent communication…" Hana said, comforting Miho.

"But if something is happening in Kuromorimine, wouldn't their school news site say anything?" Saori wondered.

"That's the thing," Miho said, "I already checked, nothing abnormal is happening."

"I guess it's only a matter of whether she'll check her messages or not."

"Worst case… I might have to call home," Miho said. She was absolutely reluctant on that idea. She was ready to see her again…

"Don't worry Miho! I'm sure everything is alright with her!" Saori attempted to comfort Miho again.

"Thanks you two…" Miho said to her two friends in the class. Last year they helped support her by not taking Sensha-Dou, they were all still in this together still.

Just during that, the bell rang for the upcoming class.

"Man, imagine that…" Saori said, "We've got to worry about this Tankery tournament stuff and we're still in the middle of a school year here…"

"It's rather busy," Hana pointed out.

"We'll be alright," Miho said. "Same thing with the nationals!"

"Alright you girls there, be quiet. Class is starting," the homeroom teacher said.

"R-Right!"

* * *

 **Tank Garage, Ōarai Carrier**

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Momo was shouting with her usual authoritative tone. "We've learned a lot about Tankery over the last few days that we would have to get use to over Sensha-Dou!"

The Sensha-Dou team murmured with discussion about that. The fight against the cadets was really enlightening about that experience.

"We got many problems to worry about, but no worries!" Momo said, "We'll solve each of them one at a time! One problem we have is the lack in numbers and that we would get run over by our competitors…"

"Yeah, that's true," a comment went up.

"How do we win with eight tanks?!" Another shouted.

"Just like the Spartans!" Someone from Hippo team spoke up.

"However! We have solved that problem!

"Ehhh?!"

"How?!"

"It's just like that time against University!" Anzu butted in.

"Wait, so we're getting all the other schools to join us?!" Azusa asked from the crowd.

"That's right!" Anzu replied confidently.

"Wow!"

"Just like old times!"

"Wait, Prez," Miho spoke up. "Who have you contacted?"

"We've sent a message to Saunders, St. Gloriana, Pravda, Kuromorimine, Anzio, Chi-Ha-Tan, and Continuation."

Miho froze when she heard Kuromorimine. Maybe Anzu got some news on her sister?

"Saunders, Anzio, Pravda, and St. Gloriana accepted our request, Continuation and Chi-Ha-Tan said they'll get back to us on that. But I haven't gotten any response from Kuromorimine yet, so we'll have to see about that." Anzu listed out.

Miho was deflated at the news. _Just what the heck is going on at Kuromorimine?_

"They'll meet us over here at England for the team group-up, but they won't be here until three days from now," Yuzu explained. "Until then, we'll have to finish the registration process and tournament match-up on our own."

All the girls in the Sensha-Dou club were estatic! They just might have a chance with three prominent schools from Japan teaming up with them! However, Saori and Hana looked at Miho and saw a very puzzled look on her face. One lost in the scenario.

"Miho, I'm sure maybe your sister is busy with something…" Hana tried to comfort her.

"Doesn't explain why no one at Kuromorimine isn't answering…" Miho said, "there were more than just the field commanders present, they have administrative and logistics officers. Any of them could've contacted us, but not one has done so yet."

"Eh? What's up?" Yukari said, out of touch with Miho's situation.

"Should I?" Hana asked.

"Yeah sure."

"Miho's unable to get into contact with Kuromormine as well, even to her sister," Hana explained.

"Ha? That's very strange!" Yukari gives her input.

"I know right?"

"Anyways!" Momo continued talking. "The other part of the rules that we have to face in Tankery will be discussed by Miho, explaining what we bought yesterday."

"Huh? Oh," Miho realized she was called on to the front. As she did, she noticed that there were large boxes up front, all labeled "Panzer Glory". _Guess their delivery service is really fast._

"So what other rules we have to worry about Miho?" Someone asked from the crowd, most likely a rabbit team member.

Miho prepared for her explanation. "I've been told by the cadets that the way scouting works in Tankery is a lot more competitive than the way Sensha-Dou works. They might not infiltrate in a disguise."

The crowd started talking amongst themselves about what that meant.

"Basically," Miho continued, "they may be able to raise a small attack force and just barge their way into our school for the intel."

"Eh? What?" The crowd went with other surprised reactions.

"So…" Miho said, opening the lid of one of the boxes and looking at its content. She pulled it out. "We're going to need to prepare for any potential hostiles."

"Eh?!"

"But Miho…" Karina said, "Being shot at is scary enough as is! Are you saying they can come in the middle of a night in an attack!"

"No! No!" Miho tried to clarify, "They will be using force to fight their way to the hangar. So we only have to get a few people guarding the hangars every now and then…"

"So are you asking for volunteers?" Caesar asked out loud.

"Not yet," Miho said, "We need to be familiar with these… weapons first. I'm not a teacher for this kind of stuff…"

"I managed to call Ami," Anzu said.

"Eh?" Miho was surprised, "Didn't you say she couldn't help?"

"She can't help us learn about Tankery. No one said she can't help us with… well, supplementary survival lessons…" Anzu worded it out specifically.

"Loopholes huh?" Saori saw it that way.

"That's just another aspect of Tankery I want to let you girls know of," Miho continued. "Also, these weapons, once we've learned how to use them, I'll issue them out at least two per team. Now, another addition we found in Tankery…" Miho said while going through another large box. The crowd wondered what exactly it was now.

"Is these," Miho said pulling out tank shells. It looked very similar to the shells in use already, except they had a grey color scheme on the shell instead of a solid black for armor-piercing or green for high-explosives. "These are smoke shells."

"Wait, don't we already have smoke dispensers on our tanks?" Sodoko asked. "Why do we need more smoke?"

"Well, not all of the tanks have smoke dischargers, and being able to cause smoke from a distance may give us a tactical edge…"

"We can blind the enemy!" Aya screamed out.

"Like in that movie against the German tank!" Yuuki also shouted.

"Yeah! Kinda like that…" Miho says while putting down the shell. It was getting kind of heavy. "We only got a few rounds of smoke, but enough to have at least five rounds in each compatible tanks for the tournament."

The crowd was talking again, this time about the application for smoke in the battlefield.

"Alrighty then!" Anzu said, "is there anything else you want to add Miho?"

Miho thought about her experiences in the last few days. "Nope!"

"Alright then, let's get back to practicing with our tanks! We need to get better for the tournament coming soon! And I don't want any slackers!" Anzu shouted out, mouth cupped like a megaphone.

"Heh heh," Miho giggled, seeing Anzu being enthusiastic about this raised her spirits.

But she still wondered on what happened with her sister.

* * *

 **Present Time, Bovington Tank Museum - Bovington, England**

"Miporin? You there?" Saori got back the wandering Miho.

"Ah! Yes! Sorry! Just let my mind wander," Miho explained.

"Oh don't worry about that," Montgomery said, "I've had my fair share of that as well."

"Is it just you this time Montgomery?" Yukari asked.

"Yes, just me, though I suppose it won't hurt to continue guiding you through here. You lot are very new. Wouldn't want you to get lost now."

"Hey, we're not kids," Momo said sharply.

"Well, at least don't let the bigger names here step down on you. Here take a seat at this row here…" Montgomery gestured to a row of seats laid out.

"Are everyone here from a Tankery group?" Miho asked.

"Everyone here is Tankery-affiliated," Montgomery explained. "So you've got members from schools all around the world and reporters as well."

Miho looked around again. Indeed, it was actually easy to tell apart reporters from tankers. Reporters were wearing fine suits or dresses, whereas tankers were wearing their formal military wear, or the best wear they had if anything.

"Do you know how many different schools or organizations are going to be matched up?" Anzu asked.

"The tournaments have always been a four-match structure, so at least sixteen different affiliation are here at the moment.

 _If only sixteen different groups are chosen, that must mean they are very good…_ Miho thought about the rather low number for an international tournament.

"Oh my, oh my! If it isn't the old rascal!" a rather jubilant deep female voice rang out to their side.

"Oh gosh, uh… hi," Montgomery nervously said.

"Now now Montgomery…" The woman said, poking her finger at his cheek. "After all this time, that's how you greet me? How rude…"

"Please, can't you save this for later Dianne?"

"Oh please… Not just a little company?"

"We're not going like that…"

"Montgomery, who's this?" Anzu asked first.

"Hmm?" The woman, which Miho saw had a blue uniform, with dark black hair flowing beyond her shoulder blades. A set of hair strand had been dyed a bright violet color. She was about 5'5", short, but she was still taller than Miho by about three inches. "Montgomery, who are these young 'uns?"

Montgomery sighed as he stood up, "Well, better now than later… Miho and the others, this is Mademoiselle Dianne, commander of the prestigious French Tankery academy 'De Gaulle Tank École'..."

 _So she's from France?_ Miho thought as she looked at her. "Dianne, this is Miho and others from Ōarai.

"Miho?" Dianne asked with curiosity. "Miho Nishizumi?"

"Yes," Montgomery confirms.

"THE Miho Nishizumi… The Legend?"

 _Oh boy,_ Miho thought to herself, bracing for another fan squee to happen. But as Montgomery confirms her suspicion once more, she laughed with a jovial tone.

"HA! So YOU are the Miho Nishizumi?! Geez, I thought you were a lot… taller."

"Umm, yeah, it's nice to meet you too," Miho said extending her hand.

Dianne looked at it for a moment, before shaking it, "Wow, um, sorry for my behavior then. I get excited easily."

"No kidding," Saori offhandedly mentions behind Miho.

"So, you're participating in the exhibition matches then?" Dianne asked.

"No, we're here to watch you all get your selections for-. OF COURSE WE'RE HERE FOR THE TOURNAMENT!" Momo said sarcastically with annoyance.

"Jeez, calm down girl," Dianne says with a soothing hand gesture, "it was like, a rhetorical question."

"Still a stupid one."

"Alright enough all of you," Anzu and Montgomery seem to say at the same time.

"Right, Sorry Prez," Momo apologized.

"Anyways, you are from Japan right?" Dianne asked.

"Yeah," Miho replied.

"And you are aware of how Tankery is fought right?"

"Yep, it's, uh, very unique."

"Good, you're not going in this blind at least…" Dianne said, "They don't give good instructions for new schools from out of country. Lots of them fail because of that."

"I guess we're just lucky to have the opportunities then," Miho replied back.

"Yep, you're truly lucky…" Dianne said, trailing off as she redirects to Montgomery, "So, see anyone intimidating yet?"

"Nothing of mention, just the usual bunch. Looks like some schools just brought their members along as representatives."

"What do you mean Montgomery?" Miho asked.

"Some places in the world can't afford to send their leaders all the way over here for the match-up, be it time constraints or budget. So they just send someone able to come, even if they are just a driver in a tank."

"Oh…"

"Like that guy," Montgomery pointed to a man in a fine dress uniform, "he's definitely not a commanding officer of a team, no formal insignias and no badges."

"Damn," Dianne said looking at the man, "He's from America ain't he?"

"Guess we're not seeing Marshall for a while again…"

"Who?" Miho asked before the room light began to dim.

" _Hello? Is this thing on?"_ A speaker goes off with a distinctive accent, Miho looked at the presentation screen and sees three people, two man and a woman, up on the stage. " _We are about to start the tournament match-ups everyone, please make yourself comfortable as we set up the stage and get your letter ready for presentation."_

"Yuzu, you got the letter?" Anzu said.

"Yes, right here," Yuzu showed it to the others.

"Give it to Miho, she might need it," Anzu said. Yuzu passed it over and Miho received it.

The room had gotten a lot quieter now as everyone took a seat somewhere in the room.

A man on the stage has the microphone, while the woman was on a computer, from the screen that has turned on, she was trying to boot up a program. The other man seemed to be a security guard as he was standing by the wall diligently.

The man with the microphone began talking. " _Welcome everyone, to the World Tournament exhibition matches opening ceremony! I want to thank every one of you contestants for showing up. We will begin the first stages of the exhibition matches by setting up the match blocks right now. When I call your organization you are with, please respond, walk up to the stage, show your proof of acceptance, and pull a number from this box._ " He concluded by showing said box, a white box with only a small hole on top to get the contents in and out.

 _It's just like the nationals…_ Miho thought to herself, remembering how she was put on the stage in front of an entire theater drawing the number to fight Saunders.

" _I will begin… the first one! Maple 5th Armoured Corp from Canada!_ " The man said, then a man from the crowd stood up. He was young like most others in the room, maybe between late teens or early twenties. Dressed with a dull brown uniform and a black beret, he walked up the stage, handed a piece of paper to the woman, and walked up to the box. He reached in and pulled a paper.

" _Number 13!"_ The announcer said loudly, reading the paper. On the projector, which now shows an image of a tournament board. The 13th position from the left was filled in with 'Maple Armoured Corps' _._

" _Next up!"_ It continued, _"De Gaulle Tank School from France!"_

"Right here!" Dianne said loudly jumping up, then walking to the front. She reached into the basket…

" _Number 11!"_ The man said, and the 11th position was filled with a name.

This continued on, 'American Cadet Alliance' got number 4, 'Cadet 3rd Royal Tank Regiment' got number 2, 'Suvorov Military School Armored Cadets' from Russia got number 5, 'Carius Academy' from Germany got number 15, 'Wojtek Brawlers High School' from Poland got number 16, 'Merlion Waves Academy' from Singapore got number 1, '500th Young Lion Brigade' from Israel got number 7. 'Home Guard 10' from Sweden with number 6.

Soon, the man announced. " _Ōarai Girls High School from Japan!"_

"Ah!" Miho was caught unprepared, "H-Here!" She said loudly. A tad bit loudly as some people were turning their head to look at the disruption. Only later as Miho walked up the stage that they weren't looking at her because they found her annoying, but because it was… her.

"Hey, isn't that…?"

"No way? She's that young?"

"Huh? Her? She did that?"

 _Waaaa-! Everyone's staring at me?!_ Miho frantically thought, she felt very anxious as she walked up the stage knowing everyone's eyes, ears, and mouths were about her now. She handed the acceptance letter to the lady, then was lead to the stage. In front of the white box, but also in front of everyone's eyes.

" _She looks like sixteen man…"_

" _Ist das wirklich ihr?"_

If this is what it means to carry a reputation. By god, she really wants to get rid of it now.

"Miss, please, pull a number," the gentleman said.

"Oh! Right…" Miho said, spacing out.

She reached her hand into the box, rustled around the folded parchments. Picked one out of the lot, and took it out. She unfolded the paper and looked at the number, then showed it to the announcer.

" _Number 3!"_ He said loudly in the microphone and Miho looked behind to the tournament board. Number 3 would put her up against…

The American Cadet Alliance.

" _Alright next up…_ " the announcer continued, which Miho took it as a cue to get off stage. " _Sentinel High School from Australia!"_

Miho walked back to her friends down, a lot easier now that the crowd was focused on the next group of contestants…

"You really caused a commotion there," Anzu teased her…

"Oh be quiet, how do you handle all this pressure on the stage?!" Miho exasperated in a hushed tone.

"So in the end, we're number 3… against the Americans…" Hana recounted.

"Kinda like deja vu huh?" Saori mentioned.

"Yeah…." Miho said, remember the match against Saunders last year, "but we're going to team up with the ones we fought against last time!"

"Oh yeah, maybe Kay might know things about that American Alliance thingy!" Saori suggested.

"Maybe…"

It was only about ten more minutes before the entire event was wrapped up. The entire tournament slot was filled up and settled.

" _The first matches will begin next week,"_ The announcer continued. _"The information of the location and time of each match will be sent out by tomorrow by mail. That will be the only copy of the mail, so keep it safe and recorded."_

He finished up the explanation by clearing his throat, " _That is all. You are dismissed, enjoy the party, and…"_ He paused, _"Congratulations on your acceptance in the 26th World Tournament!"_

With that, the man put away the microphone as the crowd applauded. He walked off the stage, along with the woman and the man. Then they were gone, and everyone recommenced their routines in the room, attending to the snacks still strewn about in the back.

"Wow!" Saori said astonished, "they're so mysterious!"

"It's even more shady than that MEXT guy…" Yukari said. It was like when those three people walked into the room, the atmosphere turned into a dark miasma of tension.

"Yeah…" Miho said, still wondering just how much of an impression she made on the crowd.

"Perhaps we can go about the crowd and see the other members here?" Hana said, though a cursory analysis could see that Hana was eager to break for the variety of food at the back.

"Not a bad idea," Montgomery said. "Getting to know some of the top people here would help get an idea of the way they fight.

"Yeah, let's go enjoy ourselves!" Anzu said, trying to break Miho out of her little world.

"R-Right!" Miho finally said. Just as the Ōarai girls got out and about to leave their seat row, they were met by a blue uniform which Miho bumps and almost faceplants into her bosom.

"My, I didn't know they were that irresistible!" Dianne joked about the situation.

"Dianne, none of your lasciviousness now…" Montgomery said in a sighing tone.

"Uh, anyways, excuse me!" Miho apologized.

"Oh, no worries," Dianne said.

"What's with those people anyways?" Momo asked. "Why so mysterious in their actions? Can't they just do things online just like the national Leagues?"

"Hmmm, yes, it is strange…" Dianne said. "Like you, the League associated just for France has their own site…"

"So what does that mean?" Yuzu asked.

"I don't know, the International League operates on a whole different caliber than the national ones… I'm not familiar with their organization either."

"Makes it all look like some underground business we're in…" Anzu breaks it down.

"Either way, the I.L. does have great influence in the world, like reputations. Isn't that right? Ms. Legend?"

Miho sighed at this repeated title. "I just don't get why I'm the one stuck with such a standing out title…"

"Yes, yes, it must've been a shock to you when you realized your value…" A mysterious voice called out to Miho's left. A heavy accented one, and one that Miho recognized.

A man was there, she recognized the face, but instead of the dark olive suit he had, it was a straight black dress uniform. On it was a set of medals for decorations.

"Kraus…" Montgomery said with a tone only spelling out rivalry.

"Montgomery… Dianne…" Kraus greeted them back. Another man, a teen maybe only a year older than Miho, was by his side with a similar uniform. He was just about the same height as her, remaining a tad shorter than Kraus. His white platinum blonde hair with bold brown eyes. His unique colorization stood out like Dianne's purple hair streak. But it was his eyes that Miho felt were just gazing towards her…

"Come to take the title again?" Montgomery asked towards Kraus.

"Hmm hmm," Kraus seemed to mischievously laugh, "and you two are here to make fools of yourselves again?"

"Hey!" Dianne shot back, "I've gotten better than last time!"

"Oh really? The classical blitzkrieg formula seemed to work fine last time…"

"Enough Kraus," Montgomery said, "It's been a while already, experiences of the past can be discarded. Tank tactics change quickly, you know that."

"Yes…" Kraus agreed, though with an ice chilling tone, "just like I have this year."

"Oh? You're going to tell us about it?" Dianne said.

"I'm not that suicidally confident," Kraus said smirking, "but I do have to thank my second-in-command for the new idea."

"This runt?" Montgomery asked, aimed towards the platinum blonde teen.

The teen's eye became perplexed at Montgomery's words, tilting his head slightly as he rolled the word around his mouth. Kraus looked at the confused boy slightly before he spoke "Er meint Gör"

Then the boy reacted, "I'd watch who you call 'runt'," he said with a mild voice coupled onto a rather thick accent. The words tumbled out like barrels. It was obvious that English wasn't this teen's forte.

"Didn't think you started letting kids into the academy," Montgomery joked towards Kraus.

"Yes, well this boy has been with the school only within the last three years, and his results speaks truer than what he seems," Hans said.

"Oh really?" Montgomery said, "What's your name kid?"

"Hans Wittmann," the teen said, "and I'm not a kid."

A pause seemed to pass between the different commanders there. Miho only looked at the quarrel with little input to add.

"Hans Wittman…" Dianne said curiously, "You're not related to… are you?"

"Heavens, no," Kraus chimed in, though in a tired tone as if he's been asked that many times. "It's only a name coincidence. That man died too young for any descendants."

"Oh okay." Dianne said, clearing that misunderstanding.

"But make no mistake Frenchie," Hans' voice turned hostile, "I will make break your tanks."

Dianne looked at him with mild amusement, as though his sentence broke the weight his threat may had carried.

"Hans!" Kraus snapped at him, though Hans didn't flinch.

"Vergib mir Herr Kommandant." Hans said, back to his usual tone.

"My apologies for his behavior," Kraus said to the two, "this is his first time at an event like this."

"I can sympathize," Montgomery said.

"Yes, and I'm sure she can too?" Kraus asked, pointing towards Miho.

"U-umm…" Miho was still speechless on what to add to this conversation, "N-nice to meet you!"

"A pleasure to meet 'The Legend'," He said, extending his hand. Miho took it and shook. "How does a young lady like you become one of the biggest names in the international community?"

"Uh, it just kinda happened…" Miho said. It was the truth, after all.

"Many spend their lives trying to achieve even a short time in this fame, Ms. Nishizumi." Kraus said, "even I would like this fame."

"Ah, well…" Miho still fumbled with her words.

Then the grip tightened, "That's why I'll do my very best to destroy you if we shall ever meet on the tournament battlefield…"

Kraus had his intimidating look return. Miho froze. His vision stared into her soul, her personality. Almost like how Hans was looking at her earlier…

"Enough Kraus, you're frightening the poor girl," Montgomery intervened.

"Hmm," Kraus let out a small laugh and released his grip. "But is she really ready for our level of competition Monty? I've seen her fight in the nationals… I wouldn't call it, intimidating."

"She'll be more than enough when you get to her," Dianne said, supporting her. "But you'll have to get through me first!"

"Assuming we even meet in the tournament branch Dianne," Kraus said back. "It takes more backbone than just a tale to get into a tournament like this. What exactly was the International League thinking inviting her here?"

"What right do you have on who the I.L. chooses?" Dianne defended Miho.

"I say, she's too naive! Day by day, us tankers fight for our titles, our positions. And Nishizumi here has her name and tale to herself, and she's not even out of high school…"

"And she damn well earned it Kraus!"

"But is it really her own efforts?" Kraus asked, "Or did she happen to be in the right place at the right time, paraded around like a poster girl?"

"Kraus," Montgomery said loudly, "That's enough."

Kraus just smiled back, "I'm just saying…" He reached into his pocket and brought out a smartphone that was rumbling. A phone call? "Now if you excuse me, I have more important business to take care of. Come Hans!"

"Jawohl!" Hans replied, and two walked away, exiting the room.

When they were gone, Miho felt like she had been holding her breath the whole time and took a deep breath.

"Man, what's with that guy!?" Saori said.

"Kraus, Axel Kraus" Montgomery explained, "He's been the commander of the Carius Academy since six years ago."

"Wow? Six?" Anzu said, "Wait, he's been in the academy for six years? What the heck?"

"They have a special league-approved curriculum for extended school time for opportunities to participate in international competitions," Montgomery said. "He should be in his last academic year now."

"A change in curriculum?" Hana asked.

"Should you really be surprised? Don't you have a special school curriculum too?"

"Oh right…" Miho remembered, Ōarai Girls High School had a four-year system, even if secondary education was typically only three years long. "Was that part league-approved Prez?"

"Maybe, probably a throwback to the old Sensha-Dou team and they just didn't bother changing it when they disbanded." Anzu said. "Now that I think about it, it may be because of the discrepancies between regular schools and Sensha-Dou oriented schools that MEXT came after us in the first place. It was an immature system when they placed it and it still is now."

"Oh." Miho seemed weak to respond. She couldn't grasp at what Kraus was doing to them. Too naive? Talking down on them like that? Miho's been told that Tankery was extremely competitive, but to that level? Then again, Miho thought back and remembered how during the nationals, Ōarai was the buttmonkey of the bunch, schools like Saunders cheered at getting an "easy" foe, and Pravda along with Kuromormine only talked about crushing them.

"But what's the kid's deal?" Momo said, "He's real bratty for someone like that."

"Hans Wittman…" Montgomery goes, "I've heard stories about him from my more open cadets… apparently he's a talented Tiger I commander… almost like his namesake Michael Wittmann."

Miho knew that name. Despite his association with the Schutzstaffel, Michael Wittmann is still regarded as one of the "poster boys" of the Tank Ace. Even in Kuromorimine, he was paraded around as an iconic tank ace for his exploits, and there were lessons settled around what how he did things, what mistakes he committed, and what could be improved for better field performance.

"Though, I'm not sure how he can tot that name around and survive in Germany today…" Montgomery continues, "but I guess he's been studying at Carius Academy three years ago and made a big name in the German nationals either last year or two years ago…"

"So he's that good?" Hana asked.

"Can't say, never fought him. Though he must be important enough that Kraus himself would take him to this event…"

"Hmmm," Miho thought about it. It was a rather interesting tournament being built now. All these new people, with different ideals? Miho was getting kind of nervous on just what is going to happen as the tournament progresses.

"Anyways," Dianne butted in, "What are we standing around here near the seats for? All the foods in the back!"

"Oh right!" the girls seemed to have forgotten about that!

"Let's party!" Dianne pumped her fist and ran off.

"Gosh, she's a handful…"

"You two know each other well?" Saori asked.

"Got to know her during an exchange their school did to watch how we do Tankery," Montgomery explained. "It's nothing much, but she keep coming back to me on improving her Tankery team. She can't really do much with the older French tanks…"

"Well, anyways!" Anzu said, "Let's go girl! Just enjoy ourselves here for now! We can worry about the tournament preparations tomorrow! We can get our team set up and all once the other schools get here."

"R-Right!" Miho agreed. Ōarai didn't have much else to do other than train, and they have until Ami showed up and when the other teams come and reinforce their Sensha-Dou team. Thus, now is a good time to relax now that they've got the situation settled. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" All the other girls agreed in unison.

* * *

 **Fort Knox - Kentucky, USA**

"Ha ha! Can't catch me!" Daniel said as he dribbled the basketball past his tank loader.

"Why you little…!" Conner desperately tried to block him

"He shoots…" Daniel tosses the ball out of his hands and it swishes through the basket. "And he scores!"

"Damn!" Hill, the driver, said loudly. He was watching from off the court, "That's the third one already!"

"Grrr… You're not getting past next time sir!" Conner gritted his teeths.

"Really Conner? Because I recall you saying that to me the last two times."

"Oh go to hell!" Conner cursed at Daniel.

"Hey sir! Can I join in?!" Ethan, the gunner, requested.

"Only if Conner decides to give up!" Daniel shouted, recalling the challenge Conner made on a 1 v. 1 match.

"And I'm not done yet!"

"Man, give it up Conner! He's too fast for you!" Noah, the bow gunner, cried out to Conner.

"Shit, yo, it's because he's so damn small that's he's nimble. Look at this guy! He's only up to my neck!"

"Well, works for me Conner! What are you gonna do about that?"

"Well I get my hands on you I-" Connor said as suddenly Daniel went for another shot, passing by Conner and readying the ball…

"Daniel Marshall!" A loud yell for the commander of the Cadet Armour called out, which he momentarily paused his basketball shooting action and stepped back onto the dirt.

He sighed, "Man, Bradley, what now? You made me lose my focus!" Daniel said in a near whiny tone.

"Lose your focus?" The young lady said with a stern voice at him. "May I remind you that you're suppose be at the World Tournament opening in Britain?"

"Ah, I gave that duty to that new guy from the light tank platoons. He always wanted to go to Bovington…"

"That's not the problem here, sir." Isabelle was frustrated at the free-going style of her commander. It didn't match up with her demeanor. "What about your duty as the representative of the Cadet Alliance?!"

"Look, Isabelle, dear…"

"Don't call me that," Isabelle shot back stoically.

"Okay, okay, Cadet Sergeant Bradley…," Daniel calmed her down, "What I'm trying to say is this kind of thing is not unheard of for the meet-ups. As long as someone from the organization is there, they'll let it happen…"

"But what if…"

"You do trust that Cpl. Ellis right? C'mon, he's just like you and me back when we were first here, he won't mess up."

Isabelle sighed, "But it's all on you if he did screw things over."

"Right, my orders and stuff, yada yada," Daniel said as he reached for his fitness towel and sport drink. "Hey y'all!" He referred to his crew, "I'll see you later! Business shit!"

"Coolio Bro!"

Daniel and Isabelle walked away from the rough basketball court on Fort Knox. The actual U.S. Army was working away with their armor pieces a few miles down the base. The cadets have managed to acquire a piece of Fort Knox's territory to train under the Armored officers on Tankery. Two main styles were practiced, the old way of World War II to compete in the Tankery business across the world, and the modern style with the third-generation main battle tanks like the M1A2 Abrams to prepare the cadets as they graduate into armored officers and crew members.

"You can't be this casual sir…" Isabelle said, with a tinge of concern in her voice. "Even for someone of your status…"

"I know, I know," Daniel said reassuringly. "But what's the point of this all if I can't have some fun?"

Isabelle sighed. When she was assigned as his second-in-command, she never expected such a laid back commander. It conflicted with everything she knew about top commanders that took their situation seriously. Admittedly, morale in the cadets have been raising ever since Daniel's been appointed commander two years ago, so it's not that Daniel's methods were wrong, just unorthodox.

"So what is it Isabelle?" Daniel said, changing from his usual casual tone to a strictly-business one, "you wouldn't get this pissy over something like this…"

"I got a phone call from Cpl. Ellis, the one you sent to England."

"And?" Daniel looked at his watch, "The selections must be over I guess?"

"Yes," Isabelle confirms, "We're up against a school from Japan."

"A school from Japan? Oh please…"

"Sir, the school is Ōarai"

Daniel took a pause upon hearing that name.

"Sir, the person there drawing the selection number for them…" Isabelle continued, "it's confirmed that it is none other than Miho Nishizumi herself."

"Miho Nishizumi…" Daniel touched upon that name for a bit, "The Legend?"

"Yes sir."

" _Thee_ Legend?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm…" Daniel was considering this new predicament. Sure, it's not as bad as fighting anyone from Russia or Germany. But to fight the "legend's" school right off the bat… Daniel has no idea about her capabilities… "This changes everything…"

"Sir?" Isabelle questioned. He hadn't seen Daniel think about someone this much, but then again it has only been a year since the "legend" was made.

"We're reconstituting our tank formations," Daniel concluded.

"What?" Isabelle was surprised. "What about the Stuarts and Shermans?"

"We can't use our standard formations against these lot," Daniel said. "There's so much we can expect from them that I won't hold back."

"This will cut into our logistics though…" Isabelle tried to argue. "We keep everything at one set because they all have parts commonality. How will you get this approved by the colonel?"

"I'll figure that out."

Isabelle was rather perplexed about Daniel's new approach. Even when against the German-oriented school in the American nationals, Daniel never changed the line-up, and it has gotten them far. "Well sir, if you can get the colonel's approval, the final decision is up to you."

"Damn right it is."

* * *

 **So that's the tournament line-up.**

 **Here it is if you don't want to go through all those numbers.**

 _ **1) Merlion Waves Academy vs. 2) Cadets 3rd Royal Tank Regiment**_

 _ **3) Ōarai Girls High School vs. 4) American Cadet Alliance**_

 _ **5) Suvorov Military School Armored Cadets vs. 6) Home Guard 10**_

 _ **7) 500th Young Lion Brigade vs. 8) Hamina Armored Institution**_

 _ **9) Nankai High School vs. 10) Phalanx Academy**_

 _ **11) De Gaulle Tank School vs. 12) Madrid Armored University**_

 _ **13) Maple 5th Armoured Corp vs. 14) Sentinel High School**_

 _ **15) Carius Academy vs. 16) Wojtek Brawlers High School**_

 **Some of them weren't mentioned, but I think it'd be getting out of focus from our main characters if I continued after we found Ōarai's number. Either way, now we have the whole World Tournament set up!**

 **It's been a very crazy week huh? Especially the election for America, I'm sure that stunned the world. Despite everything, we must keep hopeful for our future, because light cannot come without a source, and we have to keep the beacon lit.**

 **So with that, I just want to end this week on a happy note.**

 **Happy Veteran's Day! And thank you to all the soldiers who have served to protect their country!**


	8. The Compound Team

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 8: The Compound Team**

 **Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Three days has passed since the selections. The carrier was still anchored off the shore of England. Waves crashing alongside the huge bow as the gusty wind blows through the deck.

Miho was looking off from the ship's deck towards the land as sea gulls caw in the sky. She still thought about what Kraus said in that bustling orientation room.

" _Day by day, us tankers fight for our titles, our positions. And Nishizumi here has her name and tale to herself, and she's not even out of high school…"_

 _It really shouldn't bother me,_ She thought to herself, but she couldn't grasp it. How serious did the world take Tankery? Given Kraus attitude, it might even be worse than her mother's methods.

"Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari's standard trademark came up behind Miho.

"Hi Yukari," Miho said back, breaking a smile as she did.

"You alright? The last three days, you've been rather gloomy."

"Oh, it's just about the tournament…"

"About what the others said?" Yukari stated, reading Miho like an open book.

"Yeah… I just wonder… What have I gotten myself into?"

"It always seem like an accident huh? You enter Ōarai to avoid Sensha-Dou and you get drafted into the club. Now we're here in the tournament because of your name."

"But, am I really the right candidate?" Miho questioned. "There are better names than mine. Kuromormine, Selection University, those two even have my mother's and Shimada's endorsement. Why Ōarai?"

"A small tip in the balance can heavily favor one side over another," Yukari said. "Kuromormine lost twice over two years so they've got some catching up to do. I don't know much about University, but I'm sure they might've been busy this time."

Miho still wondered. Two more qualified schools than Ōarai and yet Ōarai was chosen? Did the International League just decided it wanted a better show? These questions swirled in Miho's head before a distant engine could be heard.

"Oh look! Here they are!" Yukari beamed up shouting and pointing in the sky. Up in the sky, Miho saw a very familiar aircraft approaching the carrier.

She smiled and headed towards the tank garages, one of the few places on this carrier able to land such a large flight.

* * *

 **Tank Garage, Ōarai Carrier**

"Kuh, they're insane…" Momo said. The student council was also aware of the aircraft and had made their way to the garages.

"Well, it's not like it's the first time they've done this," Anzu said, hands on her hips.

"But we're suppose to meet up on carriers… not like this," Yuzu pointed out.

"They're just showing off by this point anyways!" Momo gritted. Ōarai never had a large funding behind it as a public school.

"Oh? You're already here?" Miho said as she approached them.

"Yeah, well, they sent us a last minute message telling about this, so we had to scramble to make sure their landing zone was safe and clear."

Miho saw the large patch of dirt that they planned to use and looked at the aircraft circling above. It was about to make its landing approach. The landing gear, 28 wheels in total, was put down as it made its final approach. It came down and with a roar as the wheels was put on the ground, the friction rubbing the wheels until the plane came to a complete stop. The large, familiar, emblazoned logo of "University Saunders Air Lift Division" was inscribed on the fuselage.

The first time Miho saw it, she stood in awe at the massive behemoth. Even now, she thinks it's still quite a beast of an airplane. Just looking at it makes one wonder 'how on Earth was this suppose to take off?' Yukari was in no less excitement as she was the first time she saw the Galaxy.

Once it made a complete stop, the back door of the aircraft opened up as a ramp. An engine roar was heard as an automotive was started. From the back ramp, two M4 Sherman tanks rolled off from the tank's fuselage. One was a regular M4 with a good old 75 mm cannon, and the other was a M4A1 with a 76 mm cannon. They approached the girls at a slow pace, before stopping several feet away. The double-door hatch of the 75 mm opened and a bumbling blonde girl came up cheering, "ALRIGHT! SAUNDERS! RE-PRE-SENT!"

"Hi Kay," Miho says back smiling at the arrival of an old friend.

"Miho!" Kay said as she stepped off the M4. "Nice to meet you again!"

She came up with a hand, and as Miho take it, gives her a nice tight bear hug. Despite her looks, Kay was pretty darn strong… too strong as Miho attempted to tap out.

"Whoops sorry!" Kay realized before releasing Miho as she caught her breath.

"Man, you're always dragging us into your troubles aren't you?" the short redhead with pigtails said.

"Hi Alisa!" Miho said once she composed herself.

"Well, I suppose this would be an interesting event to add to Saunder's name." Alisa said. As she said this, a third tank, a Sherman Firefly, exited the aircraft's fuselage.

"Is it just the three of you?" Momo looked at the tanks they've brought.

"That's not too bad isn't it?" Kay said, "This was all we brought last time."

"This isn't like last time. Not all the schools that came during that match are coming back."

"Oh," Kay reacted, "Well, maybe a few more from the team would volunteer if asked. Just wait for the carrier to arrive."

"We were suppose to link-up via carriers. What made you want to come via air?" Yuzu asked.

"Because we thought it would be cool."

"Of course." Momo said to that statement.

"And also," Kay said while gesturing towards the plane. Miho just noticed that there were more people coming out of the plane, along with a lifting machinery, carrying several boxes off the plane.

"What are they doing?" Miho asked.

"That's our logistics and maintenance team," Kay explained, "I'm planning to use your carrier as our forward operating base for the tournament while we help you out."

"Wait, can you do that?" Miho asked.

"Oh yeah!" Kay said, "You know how hard it is for most ports in the world to hold just one school carrier? If you're going to have a team built up of multiple school carriers, I think it's just best if we keep our tank and teams on one carrier so we all travel in unison!"

"But… What about school?"

"We got leave. 'Sensha-Dou activity' we said and they let the Sensha-Dou team have a short break." Kay said.

"Wow, private schools are really lenient huh?" Anzu said.

"So who else is coming?" Kay asked, "It's not just us against the world is it?"

"St. Gloriana, Anzio, Pravda said they are coming," Yukari said.

"Now it's Continuation and Chi-Ha-Tan too," Anzu corrected.

"Oh, that's sweet! All of the big names right? This is going to be an awesome tournament!"

"Yeah? Well we need you all to get here soon, or we won't be able to coordinate." Momo said.

"We'll need to do some training as a complete team unit if we want to win this. We can't just make up a makeshift team like last time." Miho explained.

"Ah! I see! I see!" Kay said. "So who're we're fighting first anyways?"

"The American Cadet Alliance," Anzu said.

"The Am-" Kay said, before laughing out loud. "Oh THOSE people!"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, but I know them! Once in awhile they actually send some of their people over to us in exchange programs for training! I've fought lots of those guys!"

"Are they tough?" Yukari asked.

"Oh, they're fine. They're spirited, but shouldn't be that tough. See, they're kinda like us, focused on a single doctrine with simple equipments to keep their forces unified and logistics cheap. In fact, I know the current commander of the team right now."

Just as Miho was about to ask, Anzu's phone seemed to ring and she picked up. Some short confirmation and nods and she hung up. "Hey, the others, they're here already! Let's go greet them once we linked up!"

* * *

 **Carrier Loading Bay, Ōarai Carrier**

Accommodations for carrier linking had been present as a form of exchange programs. These links, bridges really, allow students and materials to travel between two linked carriers. While carrier size differs between manufacturers, all linkages form at the loading bay which are all built at the same height level in every school carrier for logistical reasons from unloading on port to exchanging with any carrier they come across. One carrier can link up to two other carriers on both starboard and port side.

Ōarai school carrier ended up in a chain linking with five different school carriers in one day, maybe a record high in a while. The five schools all linked together, with Ōarai right in the middle. Some of the students innocuously saw this as another exchange opportunity, but some noted that Sensha-Dou team on the other carriers were making their way to Ōarai.

The Ōarai girls and Saunders were waiting at the linking exchange area of the loading bay. The large open doors to the port and starboard goes all the way to the other ends of the chain link, all the school carriers were accessible via walking. They saw students coming about, but it was real obvious who the Sensha-Dou practitioners were when they brought in their tanks.

A variety of tanks were laid out in the garage within the hour since the linkage. The type of vehicles made it clear who they were. The first to come in was Anzio with a P40 medium tank, Semovente self-propelled gun, and a L3/33 tankette. They parked their vehicles at one side of the bay, then Miho saw the captain exited from her P40.

"Anchovy!" Miho cried out. The captain of Anzio's Sensha-Dou team turned around to the voice and waved back. Miho also saw her lieutenants Carpaccio and Pepperoni exited out of the Semovente and the L3 respectively. The trio eventually came up to Miho's location.

"Miho! It is I! The Duce of Anzio here to assist you in your battle!" Anchovy said with joy.

Miho laughed at Anchovy's over the top greeting.

"Heh," Anchovy gave off a small laugh. "Though I was really surprised to hear that you're participating in the World Tournament. Thought it'd be Kuromormine or someone like that. No offense though, I'm glad you made it."

"Oh, none taken," Miho said back.

"We'll help you crush the opposition!" Pepperoni boasted.

"I'm not so sure about that…" Yukari softly spoke.

"By the way Miho…" Anchovy said, gesturing Miho to come closer. As soon as Miho is, she said in a whisper, "if we're coming to assist you, can I ask for a favor?"

"Uh… sure?"

"Can we stay and store our tanks on Ōarai?"

"Huh?"

"We don't have the, well, funds, to travel all over, or constantly transport our tanks. We… We can't sustain it otherwise," Anchovy said in a hushed, yet embarrassed tone.

"Uh, yeah, sure! I'll let the president know."

"Thanks!"

"Hmm? What was that?" Anzu asked.

"I'll explain later." Miho assured.

Next up was Pravda with their T-34-85's and IS-2. The trademark KV-2 was also present, driven with precaution as to avoid tipping it over. A short blonde girl soon came out of one of the T-34-85s, with another blonde coming out the other, though she was much taller than the first. The shorter one waited on the T-34 engine deck as a very tall black haired beauty approached from the IS-2 and the short one goes on her in a piggyback ride. The trio then headed straight towards Miho and the others.

"Katyusha! Nonna! Klara!" Miho greeted each of them.

"Hmph! You should be glad we're here to help you!" Katyusha said out loud with a boastful tone.

Miho smiled at their arrival, and glad to see Katyusha hasn't changed since the last time she saw her, physically and personality-wise.

"We're glad you could help us get through this tournament!"

"Oh please, we'd wipe them out ourselves if we could!"

"Yet, we never received an invitation. Perhaps for a reason, eh Katyusha?" Nonna said.

"I- Oh be quiet!"

Nonna and Klara smirked at Katyusha's stubbornness. The two surely loved teasing her.

"Anyways! I'm willing to work with all of you! I don't mind if I have to see those Kuromormine folks again!"

"We're not even sure Kuromormine is coming…" Miho gloomly remarked.

"Eh? They're not?" Katyusha said in a surprised tone. She started pondering, "I wonder why…"

"Beats me," Miho said back. She still thought about it. These last few days, she still has no contact with anyone there. And from what everyone's saying, _no one_ knows what's going on with Kuromormine.

But her thoughts were interrupted as another set of engine and track clatter approached, but followed with Kay's "Wow!"

Miho looked over. A week ago, she wouldn't have recognized whose school these vehicles belonged to, but she knew from her remark after that practice match.

If St. Gloriana was on a verge of upgrades, this was one of the biggest jumps Miho saw since Ōarai went through after acquiring the Tiger Porsche.

A large Churchill tank was slowly crawling along the ground, but it was no simple Churchill. It was a lot wider than a standard type, but its biggest change was the turret design and the gun, a long gun with a spherical muzzle brake.

"Wow!" Yukari reacted to the mechanical beast. "An A43 Black Prince?!"

The 17-pounder gun was a large upgrade over the 75 mm on the Churchill , suddenly the infantry tank had a gun that matched its armor-fold. However, it was very slow, crawling over the loading bay slowly. Given St. Gloriana's fighting style, it might actually be an extreme version of their standard doctrine.

The Black Prince contrasted with the other tanks arriving. A Churchill was also present, but sped past the Black prince. Five other tanks zoomed around too, Cromwells, no longer the usual Crusaders that they had. All these tanks parked besides each other in the loading bay, alongside the other tanks.

"Damn," Kay looked, "St. Gloriana got a massive upgrade, huh?"

"Never heard this one over the net…" Alisa mentioned.

Meanwhile, the students from Anzio were in a mood short of shock. As an Italian-based school, they never had access to a lot of great armor, and now they were being left behind.

"The IS can still handle that tank, right Nonna?" Katyusha asked.

"The 122 should still be effective Katyusha," Nonna replied.

"Marvelous."

The occupants of the mighty vehicles were now approaching where the rest of the Sensha-Dou teams were.

"I never thought you were one to make impressions Darjeeling," Kay responded.

"Suppose once in awhile I have to step a notch from you," Darjeeling said, with her trademark cup of tea.

"Quite a big upgrade from your line-up of Crusaders and Matilda IIs…" Miho said.

"Yes, quite fantastic, isn't it?" Darjeeling said gesturing to her new tanks. "Rosehip and her platoon are now equipped with Cromwells. Better protections and benefits of the meteor engine. Rukuriri now has a Churchill, and I pilot the Black Prince."

"It sure is a welcome to the tournament fight!" Miho said back. She was rather hopeful now that she not only has support of her rivals, but even they have a few tricks up their sleeves and they're using it to help her.

"Anyone else we're missing?" Darjeeling asked.

"Chi-Ha-Tan and Continuation are already connected, so the team should be on the way…" Anzu said.

"The Saunders carrier is still some ways away," Kay said, "that's why we made the early arrival by plane."

"Just want to make a grand appearance?" Darjeeling said.

"You bet!"

"Let's skip the small talk, how are we handling this?" Katyusha asked from atop Nonna. "We're all staying on Ōarai for the tournament?"

"We've got some living spaces for you guys," Anzu said. "Apartment complex."

"Huh, should be fine. What about the tanks?"

"You can store them on our school too."

"Alrighty then, guess we'll have to gather the spare parts for the tanks…"

"I'll tell the rest of the team to start the transport," Klara said before taking out a phone.

"I suppose your mechanics are able to take care of all the tanks being kept here?" Darjeeling asked Miho.

"Nope, that's my people!" Kay responded, "they'll be able to handle anything in the storage!"

"We've got a lot of things to work on for this multi-school team…" Miho said. It would be less complicated if each school could make their own trip to the location, but there's no guaranteed that each place can support the many ships here and not all the schools that accepted the offer could make their trips.

More tanks were now approaching, but in a very loud fashion of charging into the loading bay. Colorful tanks painted up in a variety of green, brown, and yellow colors. However, even in comparison to Anzio, these tanks were not up to par with the rest of the competition.

But it's the thought that counts right?

The hatch on a Type 97 Chi-Ha opened up to show a beautiful, graceful woman with long black hair. If she was a lot taller, she may have been mistaken as an expressive Nonna.

"Nishi!" Miho greeted the commander of Chi-Ha-Tan's Sensha-Dou team.

"Nishizumi! It's an honor to fight with you again!" Kinuyo Nishi said while saluting.

"It's alright, no need for such formality…" Miho said regarding Nishi's greeting.

"My apologies!"

"It's fine."

"So most of us are here now except Continuation…" Momo said. Their area was getting filled with most of the Sensha-Dou members of Japan. It was an impressive collection of people, some of the students passing by were looking at the gathering, wondering what was up.

Then Continuation rolled in with their vehicles. Not just one like in the match against University, but two. One was their bumbly BT-42 assault gun and the other was a KV-1 heavy tank. Katyusha's face seemed to turn red when she saw that.

"Hey! That's ours!" She screamed towards the vehicle, thrashing about as Nonna nonchalantly maintains her balance.

"Huh?" Miho said.

The BT-42 and KV-1 parked alongside all the other tanks and the occupant of the BT-42 got out. An eccentric girl with a blue and white striped hat climbed out of the turret, carrying her trademark Kantele instrument. Following her was the rest of the crew, a short blonde girl that reminded Miho of Orange Pekoe and a rowdy redhead with pigtails.

"Well, looks like the gang's all here," Anzu said.

"Hi Mika!" Miho greeted the commander.

"Hello Miho Nishizumi," Mika said as she approached them.

"How'd you like to return to the victim, eh thief?!" Katyusha shouted out to her.

"Hmm? I don't know what you're talking about." Mika responded.

"The KV! You stole the KV from Pravda those years ago!"

"Please, I would not stoop so low as to steal equipments," Mika responded. "It was just sitting there without anyone loving it, so I took it in."

"So you do admit to taking the tank!"

"Continuation, we still have tabs on your school for the disappearance of our KV-1 about two years ago," Nonna said.

"I'm sure we could find some agreement in this argument right?" Mika responded.

"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" Momo shouted loudly that pretty much anyone in the loading bay could hear her. "We got a more important issue on hand. This quarrel can wait!"

"O-okay," Katyusha said, startled by the sudden volume change.

"Either way, it's getting too crowded here, so let's head up to the deck and talk!" Anzu said.

"R-Right!" Miho agreed.

"Ooh, let's head to a restaurant while we're at it! Food's on us!" Kay shouted.

* * *

 **Conference Room, Ōarai Carrier**

The large meeting table in the school's conference room could hold the 25 people that arrived earlier. The scene at the moment was only a bit short from chaos.

Kay managed to get herself a disproportionate amount of food on the way, with her two co-leaders looking at it in disbelief. The Anzio trio managed to get, of course, pasta in the room along with plates and the setting to eat with it. While these two group attended to their food, Katyusha, on Nonna's shoulders, was still glaring towards Mika, but she was indifferent and simply played on her Kantele, providing a nice background tune in the room. The St. Gloriana students were drinking tea and exchanging idioms. Nishi was there, just looking at the chaos, but keeping quiet to herself in a disciplined stance.

Miho and Yukari met up with Hana and Saori on the way here and, along with the student council, were sitting there amidst the chaos. While Momo looked like her irritation was reaching the breaking point, everyone was just gawking at the different attitudes of all the Sensha-Dou team captains in the room.

"Like a ragtag bunch of misfits huh?" Saori noted of the situation.

"Y-yeah…" Miho agreed, it was a wonder how this chaotic scene didn't happen during the University match.

"So not one of them know what happened to Kuromormine?" Hana asked Miho.

"Yeah, but that can't be," Miho said. "Why would my sister's school suddenly drop out of contact?"

"Radio silence maybe?" Saori asked. "Maybe there at some place they don't want anyone to know so they're keeping quiet?"

Miho wasn't sure on that one. It's not like many of Kuromormine's activity are "top secret" level to them. Maybe something did happen? "But it just doesn't make sense…"

"Don't worry Miporin!" Saori said, "We know that Kuromromine didn't just disappear! Each ship is tracked by MEXT! If something catastrophic happens, they're the first to know!"

"Do you think we can just contact MEXT then?!" Miho asked, wondering if she's finally got a lead.

"No, they keep locations confidential. It's only for their private use for security and stuff."

"Oh…" Miho said disappointingly.

"Miho!" Kay called for her attention while holding onto a chicken drumstick. "We'd like to get started on the World Tournament business!"

"Huh? Oh!" Miho said, surprised at the sudden order instilled among the captains. "Do you all know the rules of the World Tournament?" She first asked. If Yuzu did her business, a copy of the rules should've been sent out to everyone.

"Yep! Got it!" Kay said.

"I received it," Mika replied.

"Got it and read it over to the team!" Nishi said.

"Ha! These rules are to Pravda's advantage!" Katyusha said boastfully.

"Pasta!"

"Oh okay," Miho said, "um, did you all get some form of weapon?"

"Oh don't worry about us!" Kay said, "We know all about the Tankery business with the exchange programs with the cadets!"

"Oh right Kay, you said you were familiar with the American Cadet Alliance?" Miho remembered Kay's statement earlier.

"Do tell us what you know, it may be valuable intel," Darjeeling said. "Afterall, with their geographics deep in the states, it's nearly impossible for us to attempt and form of reconnaissance beforehand."

"Okay," Kay said. Everyone had their attention on Kay now. "The American Cadet Alliance Tankery team is actually very similar to our playstyle. Though they're not all Shermans like us."

"So how are they organized?" Momo asked.

"They use the old-fashion way with the tank battalions used in World War II," Kay explained. "So three medium tank company and one light tank company."

"Three medium tank companies… so about 42 M4 Shermans… and another 14 for the light tanks," Yukari deduced.

"But only 30 can be brought for the first match right?" Anchovy said.

"Yep," Kay said. "So they usually downsize the companies to fit in the limit. I'd expect we'd fight tanks belonging to a company of less than 9 vehicles each in the first round."

"So either way, we'll have to face those Sherman beasts…" Nishi said.

"You're positive they only have Shermans? I'd imagine as Americans they'd have a larger fund pool for other vehicles," Darjeeling said.

"Doubt it, I know the current commander of the team."

"Who?" Miho asked.

"Daniel Marshall. He use to exchange with Saunders back when he was in Patton High School Heavy Tank Corps," Kay explained. "He was pretty talented, and charismatic. Once he became of age, he signed up as a cadet. With a reputation behind him, he elevated himself to the commander of the cadet Tankery team within a few years, a feat enhanced by the downsizing of the U.S. Army."

"How talented? You can say that to about everyone on this table." Katyusha says.

"Well, during the national tournament three years ago…" Kay started, "he was a company leader of a diversion team filled with nothing more than old M4 and M3 Mediums."

"Yikes," Yukari said.

"Yet, his company survived the full brunt of the enemy, consisting of mainly German heavies, and managed to do more damage than the flanking company." Kay said. "The entire team attributed their success to his leadership, and that's how it all started."

"So sounds like he'll be a tough walnut to crack," Mika said as she plays a melody on the Kantele.

"What about the rest of his team? Do you know anything about them?" Miho asked.

"Hmm, well I heard he's got himself a co-commander with him ever since he became the commander of the Tankery team…" Kay said, "But I don't know too much about her."

"Okay, so from what I can get with the next match…" Miho assessed, "we got a commander with a good history behind him in charge of a military-oriented team. The team is most likely consisting of M4 Mediums and Stuarts."

"Sounds about right!" Kay assured.

"Do you think it is possible that they've changed their line-up over the years?" Miho asked.

"Unlikely," Alisa butted in. "The American Army are very finicky about logistics and funds. Once they've established a doctrine, they are not very likely to change from it until they see a need to. They've settled for the Shermans and Stuarts so they're using their funds to keep these running to keep cost low."

"Also, I imagine Daniel wouldn't really see much emphasis on upgrading either. His attitude to Sensha-Dou, or Tankery, is a lot like us and Anzio over there."

"Huh?" Pepperoni looked up from her pasta plate.

"He thinks of Tankery like a extreme sport, like a fun thing to do. That's not bad, but that means he doesn't want to put too much effort into winning if the old way to do it works fine."

"Even so, I recommend we stay on guard," Miho said. "This might look like just tradition to us, but to the community, we're a completely new competitor playing on a new level of Sensha-Dou."

"Why would they see us a threat?" Alisa said. "We're nothing, it's just like the time you girls were against us and we underestimated you."

"Well, stories of my… capabilities have been spreading internationally…" Miho said.

"What do you mean?" Katyusha asked.

"None of you know about what they call me overseas?" Miho looked at the clueless group as the other school members shake their head. "They call me a 'legend'."

"Legend?" All the others except Ōarai and St. Gloriana members had no idea. Was the Sensha-Dou community that secluded from the Tankery one?

"Miho's like a icon for Tankery practitioners overseas," Darjeeling replied. "From the tip of the arctic's to the depths of Antarctica. They know her name and follow it with an urge to usurp it."

"This is for the girl who abandoned her tank two years ago?" Katyusha says out loud, which Miho winced from that memory.

"Either way," Hana says, "with a name like that around in Ōarai. Our competitors are most likely going to be on edge if they come across us. I don't think we can expect them to use their usual tactics."

"Still doubt it," Kay said firmly. "If the Americans want any change in their funding or line-up, they have to go through the bureaucracy of their chain of command. They need approval from their commander, then the commander needs to get approval from the heads, et cetera."

"Well, let's hope that stops them then," Miho said. She wasn't so sure about the whole ordeal, but it's not like she's got flexibility on what tanks she has in store either. Aside from the eight tanks they have now, all the others are now dependent on what the other schools are bringing.

"So what tanks did you all bring?" Miho asked.

"From the type of deployment, we can currently spare three tanks," Kay responded. "Though with more to come!"

"We have five here we can lend," Darjeeling said, referring to the Churchills and Cromwells. "If it must, I can see what else I can bring."

"I'm afraid all I could spare is two," Mika responded, without missing a beat on her instrument.

"Pravda is willing to help out with four!" Katyusha said proudly.

"If you can hold them, the three that I came aboard with is yours!" Anchovy said.

"I have the entire team ready to be deployed!" Nishi relayed.

"W-we don't need that many Nishi…" Miho said

"I understand, but please, use the force I have to fill in any gaps in your team!"

Miho smiled, touched by the willingness of Chi-Ha-Tan. "Thank you Nishi."

"So with all that," Yuzu was typing on a laptop. "Excluding Chi-Ha-Tan, that's 25 already."

"I guess we'll need three of your tanks then Nishi," Miho said.

"Yes! I'll make sure of it!"

"Alright then, if we got this settled," Momo started, "you should go back to your carriers and get the entire promised tanks and the equipments to maintain them if you haven't already. The carrier linking is going to end in a few hours so hurry!"

"Yes!" The others agreed as seats clatter while they move out. When everyone was gone, only the Ōarai students were left.

"This is going to be quite chaotic, isn't it?" Yuzu mentioned.

"It's not as refined as the time against University," Miho said. "But it is still workable."

"Well Miho," Anzu said, "the organization of these compound team is up to you."

"I can't do all that by myself…" Miho whimpered.

"You can, you'll find a way," Anzu assured. "Leave the living accommodations for their team and tanks to us, you worry about how to command them into battle, just like against University."

Miho was left wondering on how she managed the last time. Maho was there, she helped restore order among the different captains. But Maho wasn't here this time, it was all up to her.

"Okay…" Miho said, building up courage. "I'll give it everything I've got!"

"That's the spirit!"

"We'll help you all the way!" Yukari said, referring to the entire Anglerfish.

"Alright! Let's do this!"

* * *

 **Tank Garage #2, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho and the rest of Anglerfish team watched as the different tanks arrived from the school, elevated from the loading bay via the cargo elevators. Some heavy duty trucks borrowed from various parts on the Ōarai school carrier were used to carry the other luggages from each school. Mostly consisting of spare parts, ammunition, and a variety of other equipment each school felt they need to maintain their own tanks.

Kay and the student council oversaw most of the movement and storage, storing it in some poorly maintained, but empty garages at the tank field that were left overs from the time Ōarai had its own Sensha-Dou team. Within the hour and a half, the unloading was complete as the carrier linkages finally broke and each school carrier went off their own way. At the same time, Ōarai school carrier was on its way to its next destination.

Back at the derelict garage, the Sensha-Dou girls tried to make it bearable for their tanks.

"The tanks have to stay in this junkpile?!" Katyusha scolded towards Yuzu.

"Well, we didn't really have the time to prepare for all of these tanks…" Yuzu tried to justify. "But we did have the building checked for structural integrity, so it is safe."

"Well, the apartment you said we'll be in better not be half-destroyed either."

Miho arrived at the garage area where the other teams were in. Ōarai must have had an extremely large Sensha-Dou team before because the garage they are in now pales in comparison to the one housing Ōarai's current tank line-up, and all the tanks the other team brought could fit inside with space to spare.

St. Gloriana has three Cromwell tanks, a notable upgrade in its cruiser forces. Next to it was the Black Prince and the Churchill . Miho recognized the Churchill was Darjeeling's previous tank, but is now commanded by someone else. Saunders was there with Shermans; one Firefly, one M4A1(76), and several regular M4 Sherman, more than they said earlier since their carrier caught up during their meeting in the conference room. Pravda was also present with more than promised, five T-34-85s were present, with an IS-2 and a KV-2 coming along.

"I thought were only gonna get four tanks?" Miho asked.

"Well, who knows how long the trip is, gotta get more tanks in case some break down, or if you need to build up the force," Katyusha said. "But don't get the wrong idea that I'm just helping you because I can! We're still rivals!"

"Ha ha, right," Miho said. Ōarai could appreciate the availability of extra tanks.

She looked over the other tanks there. Anzio had their P40, Semovente, and the L3 tankette. With the new rules on the open-top self-propelled guns in Tankery, the girls of Anzio were actually eager to see if their relatively inferior tanks may have the time to shine in the World Tournament. Over at Continuation, they had a light-blue painted BT-42 and KV-1, with Mika playing her instrument on top of the BT while the other students were working on the tanks. These were by far the more peculiar tanks in the garage, though Continuation knew how to work these tanks with efficiency as shown in the match against University.

Finally at the end of the garage was the tanks of Chi-Ha-Tan. Ten tanks were present, five Type 97 Chi-Ha's, three Type 97 ShinHoTo variants, and two Type 95 Ha-Gos. Despite the inferiority of these tanks, Miho has hope that they'll deliver the best they could.

"Not so bad huh?" Kay said coming up to Miho, "my maintenance crew can maintain this part of the team so don't worry about that!"

"I'm sure Leopon would be glad to work with them!" Miho said.

"Great!"

"You brought some more tanks too?" Miho said, referring to the extra M4 Shermans they brought in.

"Well, first of all my maintenance crew also double as a tank crew."

"Like Leopon team."

"Right, and the rule said up to 50 tanks could be called in towards the end, so I just wanted to let you know that you've got more tanks ready to be deployed in the future."

"Oh, thanks!" Miho said appreciatively.

"It's still quite a messy team," Darjeeling came up. "A variety of tanks with different technical specifications, usage, and abilities. Are you up to it Miho Nishizumi?"

"I'll handle the organization before the tournament match!"

"Isn't that only four days away?" Hana asked.

"Yep, and we've already set course for the destination!" Anzu said.

"Wait, where is the match being held?" Miho asked.

"Sorry, today's been so busy we've been meaning to tell you earlier when we got the mail," Anzu said apologetically.

"The match location…" Yuzu said while taking out a letter. "It's in America, California specifically."

"The west coast?" Kay said while beaming.

"A place called Mojave Desert…" Yuzu finished before the room became silent.

"Desert warfare huh?" Kay said. "Now that's something you don't see every day."

"We'll have to start stocking up on desert equipment…" Miho followed up.

"Miho, I can go look up what we need for desert fighting," Yukari said. She always knew her hands around various equipment.

"Alright, I'll leave that up to you," Miho said.

"We can start training tomorrow as a cohesive unit," Anzu said, "tonight, focus on finding out how our new compound team should be organized, okay?"

"A-Alright!"

"You're excused Miho," Anzu said before turning to the garage. "Everyone! If you would follow us, I'd like to show you where'd you be staying at for the tournament!"

Anglerfish team was already leaving before she finished that sentence.

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho had an hastily drawn up diagram of the Ōarai Compound Team tanks. Thirty tanks currently on it, grouped up with their school group. It would be beneficial if the tanks stuck together with their school group so as to not lose efficiency with each other, though some flexibility is always acceptable.

A thirty tank team allow for a team of three groups with nine tanks each, with three more in a headquarters group. Anglerfish should be in headquarters, and should be the flag tank if given the choice. The other two tanks in the headquarters group should be the M3 Lee and the Type 89. The M3 lee because its versatility would give headquarters a flexibile stance, and the Type 89 because if heavy machine guns work, it is a dead tank in the front-lines. Plus, the Type 89, with its speed that Duck team is able to get out of it, could act as a runner and scout if needed. If they don't have a choice and a flag tank is randomly chosen, it would replace the Type 89 or the M3 Lee in the Headquarters.

For the other three groups, or companies, Miho named them Dandelion, Sunflower and Jasmine again. She had Sunflower be the main assault company while Dandelion and Jasmine were supporting. With that, Sunflower had access to most of the heavy hitters such as the St. Gloriana's infantry tanks and Pravda's tanks, adding in the Cromwells as well for scouting. As the majority was her school, Darjeeling would be company commander with Katyusha second.

 _I'll never hear the end of that from Katyusha,_ Miho thought, which she giggled to herself.

Dandelion has Saunder's Shermans, backed up with Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks. To supplement firepower if they find it lacking, the Tiger Porsche was added to their ranks. Kay would be the company commander and Nishi second.

Jasmine had Continuation, Anzio, and Ōarai. It was a messy line-up compared to Dandelion and Sunflower, but the vehicles seem to work find with each other. Miho entrusts the team to Anzu, but Mika would be second-in-command should the Hetzer fall.

Miho created various scenarios in her head regarding her current organization and any possible ones they will face in America. She looked up at the computer that showed image results from a search on the Mojave Desert. Apart from the usual desert fauna, the large mountains present proved to be quite an issue. Would they restrict her movement across the field? Could the enemy use them as a point of attack if they can secure it? Miho couldn't tell without surveying the land, and she wouldn't be able to do that until the day of the match.

Miho sighed as she gave her organization one last thought. What if, in the end, the organization didn't matter? Things fell apart against University when they brought out the Karl. Miho snapped herself out of this thought. _We need to stick together!_

She took out her flip phone, and was disheartened by what she saw.

No notifications.

Not one from her sister.

"Maho… what is going on?"

* * *

Miho woke up the next day still pondering on her moves as the commander. It was their day off from school, but she still headed there in her tank uniform for the training. When she got to the tank garages, she was very surprised to see a fourth-generation main battle tank on the field. A rather familiar one with tracks digging into the ground coming from the parking lot. A Type 10 tank.

Miho started towards the garage, inside she sees Turtle team and a very familiar face. "Instructor Ami!"

"Ah! Miho Nishizumi! Good morning!" the JGSDF officer greeted Miho. Upon closer look, Miho saw that she was looking through the firearms that she brought on board. "I take it you need some help operating these hardware right?"

"Yes, could you help us?" Miho asked.

"Oh I can, but remember, none of this is official," Ami said. Miho just noticed that Ami's uniform wasn't that of a JGSDF dress uniform, rather a simple formal dress with no military decorations or insignias whatsoever.

"Okay, I understand!"

"Anyways, why don't I show you how to use this first? Might make the lessons easier later," Ami said gesturing to the submachine gun, the MP40, in her hand.

"Uh, okay," Miho agreed, approaching her. When Miho did, she noticed Ami folding out a long rod from the firearm out.

"So," Ami came up to Miho. "Right handed or left?"

"Huh?"

"Right it is," Ami said and started using her leg and free hand to manipulate Miho's body. "Left leg forwards, right back, hold that here…"

"Wha- wait a second," Miho muttered as Ami shifted her body stance quickly.

"And then your left hand here, there we go!" Ami finished up and putting the firearm in Miho's hands.

At that moment, Miho found herself aiming the submachine gun with her right hand on the trigger, left on the handguard, and the stock lightly pressing on her shoulder. She inspected the form of the submachine gun and noted the sights on top. Miho instinctively pressed her cheek on the metal stock as she looked down the sights, firearm barrel pointing down.

"Huh," Ami seemed surprised. "Have you held a firearm before?"

"Only the pistol," Miho said as she looked towards Ami and lowered the submachine gun further.

"Because you're holding it like someone familiar with this kind of stuff," Ami pointed out. Miho did noted that the firearm, despite being quite heavy, was actually being held comfortably in her hands.

"Beginner's… luck?" Miho tried to explain. She had no idea why, but she needed some explanation after her performance with the pistol back in Britain.

"Possibly," Ami said.

"We can use part of the gunnery target range for the firearms," Anzu said whilst chewing a dried potato. "We can organize the weapons training there."

"Alright, we'll do it after our tank training," Miho said.

"What's this? Miho's become a rootin' tootin' kraut?" Kay's voice was heard from behind.

"What?"

"Nothing!" Kay said teasingly. Alisa and Naomi were alongside her. "So, a MP40 huh?"

"Yeah…" Miho said looking at the submachine gun in her hands. "Do you all have something like this too?"

"Oh yeah, we've brought along our Thompsons in our tanks."

"You've been storing them on Saunders all this time or just bought them?"

"We've had them. Exchange programs with the ACA showed us we might need them for international matches."

"Okay," Miho said. "If you know how to operate them, do you think you can help in the firearm training as well?"

"Sure!" Kay said enthusiastically.

"So what's the tank organization?" Kay asked.

"Let's wait for everyone to arrive first," Miho said.

Sure enough, around 10 AM that day, most of the tank crew of all the schools were there. Though the other tank members were checking on their tanks, the commander of each school were with Miho in the main tank garage.

"Alright commander," Darjeeling said. "What's the plan now?"

"Okay," Miho said. Miho laid out the organization of the groups as Momo write down the composition on a chalkboard behind Miho. Who was in charge and what their purposes were.

"I'M second in command?!" Katyusha roared out loud when Miho got to that.

"Oh bear with it," Kay reacted.

"Grr, fine." Katyusha conceded.

"Anyways, all this seems fine, but I'm just worried about Jasmine's team composition," Kay analyzed.

"It'll be fine!" Anzu said. "We only have a limited amount of tanks so some mix-up is bound to happen."

"I don't mind at all," Anchovy said regarding her position. "Last time we had a group like this, we took down the Karl."

"I have no objections," Mika said in the back, still playing a tune.

"I'll take whatever and perform my best!" Nishi responded.

"I think the organization is slapdash," Darjeeling said, "but have faith in our performances on the field.

"Still wish I was company commander…" Katyusha muttered.

"Perhaps next time Katyusha," Nonna comforted the girl on her shoulders.

"If everyone is okay with this…" Miho started, "Let's go out and try some maneuvers! See if we can stay together."

"Okay," Kay said, standing up. "Let's mount up! Move out!" and promptly walked out towards the other garage.

Everyone else followed afterwards.

* * *

 **Training Grounds, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho was observing the rest of the team's movements on the field from her Panzer IV. Assisting her was Rabbit and Duck team as they are part of her headquarter.

Performance why, they aren't half-bad. Though by no means up to the standards Miho saw during her time in Kuromormine, the cohesion of the rather mixed up team was up to par. No doubt due to the communication on the company level. Chi-Ha-Tan working with Saunders as they maneuver down a path, the Tiger following. Sunflower still has some arguments from Katyusha at the start with conflicting ideas, but they eventually died down. Miho hopes they wouldn't come back at an inopportune time. Jasmine was indeed a strange composition, but somehow they are able to make it work. The main issue seemed to be the KV-1, with its mechanical unreliability carried over from history. However, after the first few hiccups, the Continuation crew members in the KV managed to make it work to their favor. Finnish ingenuity perhaps? Miho didn't know, but if it worked she wasn't going to object to whatever method was used.

After finding out that the team composition worked out, Miho arranged mock battles between the different groups to test out their advantages and disadvantages. Dandelion fighting Sunflower, Sunflower fighting Jasmine, Jasmine fighting Dandelion. Only a few times as they wanted to be conservative with the ammunition and parts.

Sunflower was indeed strong on a frontal engagement, especially now that they had a 17-pounder involved for St. Gloriana. Pravda in their part had the biggest guns available with their 122 and 152 mm guns. She noted that any tank that sees their formidable heavy tanks looking towards them, they panicked and withdrew. A fear tactic to consider as well.

Dandelion was by far the more balanced of the three companies in terms of maneuverability and firepower. Chi-Ha-Tan tanks lacked in armor, but can keep up with the Shermans no problem. They could be used as suppressive fire as the Shermans and Tiger move in for the kill.

Jasmine allowed for a mixed combat effort. Their fast tanks like the L3 and the BT-42 allowed for quick hit-and-runs or the like while their tank destroyer and self-propelled guns can stand back and plink. If it comes to it, the heavy tanks like the KV and the Char B1 can act as bullet sponges as well like Sunflower. A strange group indeed, but any changes may make the others lose their main strengths so Miho kept it as is.

A change in the training routine when it came to target practice was the emphasis on the machine gun on the tanks. Beforehand, the machine guns on the tanks were near useless. The machine gun on the hull couldn't be used more than just for that extra crew member to have something to do, and the coaxial was pretty much only good for ranging. Now with the new rule of being able to use it against exposed crew members, usage of the machine guns had become more liberal. Unfortunately, none of the tanks at hand have any heavy machine guns, so they won't be able to use those against lightly armored vehicles.

While one group take their tanks out to their gunnery range, the others were resting, resupplying, or if not familiar with the usage, training with firearms. Ami was there on the smaller range a distance from the tank gunnery range teaching the students how to use them. Miho approached Ami in one instance while Hippo team were taking their paces with the MP40.

"So how is it?" Miho asked.

"Not too bad," Ami responded. "Most could use the submachine guns and pistol no problem, but some are also too nervous or scared to use them, or flat out can't hold them properly."

That was understandable, Miho didn't expect everyone to take up that a personal firearm so easily. But... "What do you mean 'can't hold them properly'?"

"Well take Rabbit team for example, they're tiny," Ami puts it out bluntly. "MP40 in a proper firing mode," she says while locking the MP40 stock open, "is just too long for them, and using it folded just removes accuracy."

"Ah, I see."

"Yes, plus the fact that some tanks have way more machine guns than others, M3 has two already on the turret and cupola. So out of the entire rabbit team, only their commander, Azusa I believe, volunteered to carry a pistol."

"Okay, no need to force people to be armed," Miho said. "Also Ami."

"Yes?"

"About the Tankery rule for scouting."

"Mmhmm?"

"What can you teach us about defending our base from possible infiltrators?"

"Aside from shooting back?"

"Is there any other way?"

"No, you'll have to post guard duty and such to watch for any incoming enemy. Shoot them with these dummy rounds and incapacitate them. Then capture them. That's pretty much the only way you're going to be able to stop infiltrators."

"I thought as much…" Miho said. This one part of the match is sure to leave everyone on an edge. What if the American Cadet Alliance decided to attack on this night?

"What about you Miho? Do you plan to send out scouts?" Ami asked.

"Not too sure about it at the moment…" Miho responded. "But if we do…"

"Make sure you tell the League about it," Ami said.

"What?"

"Any attempted infiltration on a competitor, you need to let the League know ahead of time."

"How do we do that?"

"They've got an email."

"A-" Miho stumbled, "They have an email?"

"Oh yeah, it's in the rule book, on the very end. Bolded words, 'Contact Us'."

Miho was stunned. Was it really there that whole time? She thought the league was untraceable with those letters they've been getting. She never thought of any possible electronic communication when she considered just how the League manages its public relations by being invisible. In a sense, they still are, but at least they've got a point of contact.

"Thanks Ami, I'll check it out another time," Miho said gratefully.

"No problem!" Ami said, "but you better get back to work now commander. Everyone here is now relying on you to get them through this," she said before turning her attention back at the practice range. Miho could still hear the cannon roars of the tanks at a distance.

It was a lot of work managing such a large team. Maho had assistant instructors helping her manage Kuromormine, but Miho was on her lonesome. Lots of work, but a must to survive the tournament.

The American Cadet Alliance. The match is three days away and in the middle of a desert. _A North Africa-style battle huh?_ Miho thought to herself.

But she felt it inside her that the fight will be anything but one alluding to the 1942 way of fighting.

* * *

 **Another chapter done!  
**

 **And right before Thanksgiving week too for us Americans.** **I have a vacation planned already so I _may_ or _may not_ be able to make a new chapter next week. Keep your fingers crossed I suppose.**

 **It's hard writing all the characters in the anime and try to get across even their main personality. Remember, the TV anime and movie altogether has _68_ named characters (and that's not counting those from _Little Army_ and other spin-offs). I'll do my best, but please bear with me if Katyusha doesn't sound as tsun-tsun or Mika doesn't sound as cryptic.**

 **Oh and yeah, Continuation did steal a KV from Pravda. It's canon.**

 **Also, if you got the time within the Thanksgiving Break (for Americans and other practitioners) or any time in general, I highly recommend the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" by Mel Gibson. The movie cinematic are well done and the story very direct and on point. Only word of warning is that if you are sensitive to gore, you probably should bring a bag or something because man, was _that_ a lot of blood.**

 **Anyways, thanks for all the support everyone who's been with me till now! If you look forward to whats next, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story! Drop a review as well if you want to express how you feel because I'm always curious! Things are only going to get wilder from here on out!**

 **Edit 23/11/2016: Changed a detail about time it takes from port to Mojave after looking at Google Maps.**


	9. Operation: Zipper!

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 9: Operation Zipper!**

 **Los Angeles Port - California, USA**

Early morning, hours before the official match time, Ōarai carrier has arrived at a port in Los Angeles. Multiple branches in the water way into the port help increase the areas a ship could dock to unload or load its cargo or passengers. On the land, rows and rows of shipping containers of various colors lay there as a crane moves them to trucks or shipping boats. A very busy place, the place they docked on was more of shipping than passengers.

But considering the cargo, it was rather appropriate as cranes carried off the participating tanks onto transport trucks. From here on, Ōarai and the other school will travel to the final area via rail.

It'll only be a few hours from then to their arrival at the match area. The whole team was there getting off the carrier as the unloading process continued, dressed in their usual tanker uniforms, though some in a more comfortable fashion than their usual due to the unique fighting environment they are heading too.

"Ah, America! The land of the free!" Kay said loud and proudly as she stepped off the carrier onto the port.

"You've been here beforehand?" Saori asked.

"Nope, never stepped on its land before!" Kay said.

"Yes, yes, how embarrassing for an American-themed school huh?" Alisa said sarcastically.

"N-No! It's not like any of us has been here," Saori said.

"Though isn't it an unfair advantage? Fighting right on their home ground?" Alisa noted.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Miho said. "Mojave desert may be in the states, but its a rather unforgiving environment."

"You stocked up on desert equipment? Most of us already supplied ourselves with desert stuff onboard your ship when we knew it."

"Yeah, of course! Yukari helped."

"That's right!" Yukari beamed. "Most important thing out there is water! So I've got a couple jerry cans attached on each tank completely filled with water. Even a large crew shouldn't go through the whole thing in just one day!"

"Yes, water is important."

"Also got in some fans for each tank to use," Yukari said. "It's going to get very hot even at this time of the year."

"Oh, this is going to do something to my skin…" Saori said,looking at her hands.

"Let's just hope for the best," Miho said. "Stay comfortable most of all. I don't want anyone passing out over there."

"Unfortunately, that might be a possibility…" Anchovy said from behind Miho.

"Anchovy? Does Anzio have experience with desert warfare?"

"A bit," Anchovy said, "Or it may have been just that manga I read… Either way, there are a surprising amount of close-range fighting along with the long-range too."

"How so?" Yukari asked. Historical books about the North African fights between Axis and Allies rarely mention any range difference from tank battles other than "averaged 1 km typical engagement".

"Large dunes," Anchovy said. "Large dunes creates lots of valleys and sometimes tanks from both side just meet up in there. One time we had our L3/33 tankettes started fighting a bunch of similar machine gun tankettes from Chi-Ha-Tan…"

"Oh, I remember that!" Nishi remembered.

"I've never seen that many tracers before in my life… But bottom line is that it happened."

"Okay, but we've got our fair share of close-quarter combat experience, we should be fine." Miho said. "But I can't make any good plans until I've gotten a look on the battlefield…"

"Well, in the end, you are the team commander Miho!" Nishi said.

Miho simply smiled. Being regarded as not just a school club commander, but as a commander of a team comprising of the majority of Japan's Sensha-Dou schools. That certainly carries a weighing name to it. She was stressed out about it the first few days, but she's gotten accustomed to it. Having everyone able to obey your command was newer than just being on a supporting end receiving orders to be followed.

The dock railway was only off to the side. The transport trucks carried the tanks over there for loading onto the flatbeds available. Just like the time with Montgomery, some passenger cars were affixed to the main railway engine up front.

A man in a formal suit was there, ready to take names supposedly. "Ōarai Girls… High School?" He asked, though he seemed rather surprised at the large crowd with their very different uniforms.

"We're a bit more than that now," Anzu said. "But yes, we are."

"Ah, I see," the man said. "Do you want to rename it than?" The man then asked.

"There's an option?" Miho wondered.

"Only if you wish for it to be so," The man said.

"What do you think?" Miho asked toward the student council.

"Up to you Miho, do what you want," Anzu said.

Miho didn't think about it too long, "We'd like to call ourselves the 'Ōarai Compound Team!'"

"Ōarai Compound Team? Are you sure?" The man asked.

"Yes!"

"Alright, I'll send in the report. Now you may just have to wait a bit because we didn't expect such a… large crowd."

"As long as we get there in time for the match!" Yukari shouted.

"I can manage that," the man said. "Please wait around here, don't interfere with the business here," the man said before departing.

"He's got the mysterious vibe of the league alright…" Saori said.

"I still don't get why they operate so covertly…" Hana wondered.

"Maybe they just got tired of dealing with the public openly?" Alisa said. "They _are_ advocating the usage of weapon of war as sports."

Miho did wonder. The league was a very mysterious organization for one with a good control over international Tankery.

* * *

Within the hour, the girls were all loaded into the three passenger cars now provided. Now with enough flatbed cars, the girls helped drive each tank off the truck transports onto the flatbeds. Care was given on making sure all the tanks fitted on the way towards the destination. Once all clear, the train departed from the port, on the way towards the Mojave desert.

Everyone did their own business. Nap, chat, party, eat, and other activities to ward off boredom.

"It's about a five hour train trip huh?" Saori said. "If tanks were air transportable, we'd be there faster…"

"Yeah, but we'd only have Locusts, Tetrarchs, or the T-60…" Yukari said. "Those are pretty weak in armor and even armament to save weight."

"Ugh, there's gotta be a way to kill time…" Saori whined.

"Hey, wasn't there a match yesterday?" Miho just realized.

"Oh right! The first round of the exhibition matches was yesterday wasn't it?!" Kay seemed to have popped out of nowhere and gotten Miho her elbow.

"We've been too busy with training and preparing to get the recent news huh?" Miho said.

"I wonder how the 3rd cadets fared?" Hana asked.

"I know how to find out…" Yukari said as she dug into a pocket. Yukari took out a smart phone. She started what seems to be a TV app on her screen. Dialing through the numbers, she reached one in a manner that seems rehearsed. The video was already loaded in the middle and it buffered.

"… _and so we see here, the 3rd Cadets is turning this into a one sided fight against Merlion._ " A man said behind a press table to the right.

" _That's right, and I'm sorry to say this, but this was very expected._ " A man Miho recognized was sitting on the left.

" _Maybe for you, you've been following the 3rd Cadets since you started George._ "

" _So I'm biased you saying?_ " George said as he chuckled.

 _So 3rd Cadet is winning?_ Miho concluded from the stream so far.

" _Anyways. To those of you just coming in, welcome back to the first round of the 26th World Tournament exhibition matches! I'm George Jackson, this is Anderson Clark. In the first round, we have Merlion Waves Academy from Singapore against the 3rd Cadet Royal Tank Regiment from Britain. They're facing off in the tropical forests in the Pacific, in… where was it? Ratua?_ "

" _That's right George! A small private island rented out by the League, it's a rather good tropical environment for this match. However, it doesn't seem to be ending well for Merlion. Though they've got some formidable tanks of their own, the 3rd Cadets managed to outfox them. Within the first few minutes of cannon fire, 3rd Cadets spectacularly knocked out five of Merlion's tanks with no losses of their own. Though that's the numbers are still within competition, 3rd Cadets pushed the initiative on the surprised Merlion crew members. Casualty grew until now it's 15 to 28. Merlion's now outnumbered 2-to-1_."

" _Unless they manage to get all of 3rd Cadets in one swell swoop, Anderson, it's not very likely that their winning this one._ "

" _Their armor is just too much!_ " The man on the right, Anderson, said. " _They keep their heavy armor supported by the cruiser tanks. Merlion's Shermans can't get to their vulnerable side armor._ "

 _Heavy tanks? Churchills?_ Miho thought. Despite not going into deep details, the announcers show that 3rd Royal Tank Regiment now has a completely different fighting style than they did when they fought against her.

" _Oh, let's look at this, we've got new development,_ " George said as the screen switched over to a feed of the match. It showed a few tanks in Merlion team, some M4 Mediums, M3 Mediums, and Matilda II's hiding behind a hill. The camera panned in a distance and showed the incoming 3rd RTR team. It consisted mainly of Comet I tanks, charging in like a traditional cavalry charge, rapidly firing their machine guns on the way, forcing the commanders poking out of their tanks on Merlion's side to retreat to cover. As the Comets close in, Churchills followed, but they were not needed as the Comet closed in on the Merlion tanks. The first few Comets appearing around the hill were shot at by the Merlion tanks. Some were knocked out, but the Comet closed in for a slaughter. At near close-blank range, the Comets fired their cannons rapidly at the different Merlion tanks it comes across. Annihilating the bunch, the Comets began to move on as the Churchills took over the position.

" _And with that,_ " Anderson started again, " _Merlion is down to 7 tanks._ "

" _Not very good for them. Looks like a clear 3rd Cadets victory over here now._ "

" _I agree_ " Anderson said.

"Wow, Third Royal really wrecked them huh?" Saori said watching.

"That speed and ferocity…" Kay said while watching, "looks a lot like something we would use combined with elements of Pravda and St. Gloriana's fighting style… They're quite pro huh?"

"In the international community, there were only four main competitors…" Yukari said. "America, Britain, Russia, and Germany. The strong has always been strong. These guys must have been monopolizing the World Tournament for a while now."

"And we're fighting with America in the first round…" Hana said. "But, I have faith that we can pull it off!"

"Yes!" Miho agreed.

"That's the spirit commander!" Kay said while five-starring Miho on the back. "We gonna get out there and kick some ass!"

"I'm with you all the way!" Azusa popped up beside Miho. "Don't think we're gonna back away like we did anytime before!"

"A good commander among us, like Eisenhower!" Caesar said arms crossed.

"Good one!" The rest of Hippo team approved of that name's usage.

Miho made a small laugh on that thoughtful suggestion. The trust among her teammates, even the temporary ones, ran high. Miho looked at her team in the passenger car. In a few hours, they will be heading into battle with one of the most well-known Tankery organization in not just America, but in the world.

"Everyone, rest hearty and play well, because we're going to kick their butts later!"

"YEAH!

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Mojave Desert - California, USA**

Within a few hours, Miho found the train had come to slow down… in a middle of nowhere.

Well, as nowhere as it can get from the landscape. Aside from the station, the land beyond it was sand, bushes, and lots and lots of rock formations. The train came to a complete stop as Miho saw workers already stationed outside starting to get to work unhooking the tanks from the flatbed support and loading ramps for unloading. Miho and the others in the car headed to the still-closed door.

The door opened and Miho could see they were at a form of station in a middle of the Mojave desert. The desert was a lot milder than Miho presumed. Though the sun glared from above, blinding the girls, the actual air temperature was rather bearable.

"Huh…" Saori noted, shielding her eyes from the sunlight. "Aside from that outrageous sun, it's not as bad as I thought out here…"

"Quite an interesting land formation out there…" Hana said. Looking out, miles of miles of just nothingness except the fauna and flora of the desert. There weren't any large rolling sand dunes present at their area, just large rocks stacked high like mountains, bushes as tall as some of the girls, and the sand under all that. Some of the sand were even red colored too, an interesting blend.

"I guess I prepared for the wrong desert…" Yukari said. "The one in North Africa must be worse than this."

"Then you prepared us for the worst then Yukari," Miho assured. "You did great either way."

"Thanks Nishizumi-dono!"

Miho stepped out of the train car. Now that she's actually under it, the sun radiates a whole lot more heat than what's felt in the air. _Overexposure to this may lead to heat exhaustion,_ Miho thought. She'd hate to think this is a standard work condition for the men at the station. Outside, the men had finished their work and the tanks were ready to be unloaded by their crew.

"Okay…" Miho said. "Everyone, unload your vehicles!"

Everyone scrambled to their vehicle flatbeds. Upon reaching the Panzer IV, a touch of the metal was near sizzling.

"Ow!" Miho said surprised. The sun rays had been shining on the exposed tanks the whole way and their metal looked hot enough to sizzle eggs.

"Here Miho!" Yukari waved something towards Miho. "I got us gloves!"

"Thanks!" Miho took on a pair and placed them on. Gripping onto the hull of the Panzer IV, she climbed up. Heat could still be felt seeping through the glove and she took care not to let any part of her exposed leg touch the metal. She was relieved to see that everyone was following suit on climbing the Panzer IV. Despite the rather difficult climate, everyone was doing their job.

Miho got to the commander's position. Inside was a lot worse than outside due to the accumulated heat inside the tank. She kept the cupola open, and all the other girls kept their hatches open, when she ordered Mako to carefully drive off the flatbed. Mako didn't seem to be much affected by the heat itself, aside from the gloves so the hot steering rods don't burn her. The others, however…

"It's hot…." Saori whined for the third time since getting off the train.

"It's only going to get hotter if you think about it," Hana said to Saori via the intercom."

"You're not helping!"

"Here!" Yukari said, giving a plastic bottle towards the rest of the crew before giving one to Miho. Water! "I got more here in this container so if you finish, I can fill it up!"

"Thanks Yukari!" The crew said in relief. Water can help go a long way in the desert.

"I only hope everyone else is doing fine…" Miho wondered.

Everyone and their tanks got off the flatbed and followed the directions heeded by the men working on their tanks. Miho at lead, they ended up somewhere out the station as a man was there with some documents. He climbed up Anglerfish's Panzer IV with little difficulty.

"Ōarai Compound Team?" He asked to Miho, who was still unbuttoned.

"Yes, that's us!"

"Alright, here's a map of the field," He hands Miho a map. Miho takes it and analyzes it. "We're here right now. Drive your tanks to this part here, that's your starting location," he points towards a specific area. "We'll then send someone over to make the official start-up greetings before we start."

"R-right!" Miho said as the man stepped off. "Everyone, please follow me!"

It was not a very long drive from the station. Miho looked closer at the map as they rolled along. The map showed the field had a rather rough geography. Miho noted the two teams are starting on the north and south portion of the map, with Ōarai on north. The map geography had a long, rolling sand desert on the west side, a large place full of little cover. The middle was entirely mountains. A small passageway is shown there, but in all sense it was a mountain road. East side was a mixture of flat areas and heavy rock formations. More cover than the west and less congested than the center.

Miho guided the tanks across to a point that indicates where they would start. "Everyone halt!" She radioed in as they closed in. "Get into formations as in training!"

The many tanks that Miho has under her command, all thirty of them, rolled to their formations they practiced in training. Three groups of tanks named Dandelion, Sunflower, and Jasmine along with one headquarter command simply called "HQ".

"Everyone at ease!" Miho then gave the order to relax. Soon some of the girls were doing their various activities.

As they did, Miho could see in a distance a vehicle moving. The desert heat produces a mirage that makes it much harder to see.

"What's that?" Hana said, peering out from the turret side hatch.

"I think we have visitors…" Miho said as she disembarked the Panzer IV. The soft sand of the desert wrapped around her boots as she landed. When she did, she saw some of the other commanders of the vehicles getting out as well.

The vehicle was a lot closer now, Miho recognized it as a classic Willys MB Jeep. It was green colored and had no roof on top. On the back was a M2 heavy machine gun, the same model as those on the Achilles back against 3rd RTR.

Miho could finally make out two figures on the jeep. A lady with gracing shoulder-length brunette hair was the driver. On the passenger side was a man with distinctive brown hair. They came to a stop and disembarked. There was a height difference between the two occupants.

"That's Daniel Marshall on the right," Kay said, appearing besides Miho.

"Huh? He's that short?" Miho said surprised. As the duo came closer, Miho could see that Daniel Marshall was probably only around the same height as Miho. In contrast, the lady was towering over him a good three quarters of a foot. The two were wearing yellow uniforms with long sleeves.

 _How do they stay cool under that?_ Miho wondered. But she also recognized that the uniforms were very similar to those worn by the U.S. tankers in North Africa Theater of World War II. If they could've done it back then, these uniforms must have something for them worth having.

The duo were now up close to Miho and the others gathered around her. Daniel was only staring Miho eye-to-eye while the lady, his second-in-command most likely, was like Nonna to her.

"I am Daniel Marshall, commander of the Armored Cadets of the American Cadet Alliance," Daniel said. "Pleasure to meet you, Miho Nishizumi." He said as he extends a hand.

"A- no! Pleasure is all mine!" Miho said taking it.

"Hmm…" Daniel seemed to be analyzing Miho. Then he made a smile and a small chuckle. "Sorry, when I heard about your… reputation… I guess I kind of went wild on what I expected."

"Oh, um, that's alright!" Miho said. _Everyone's been doing that to me recently anyways._

"It's been a while Kay," Daniel said next.

"Yes, Daniel, it has," Kay said back.

"Didn't imagine you'd tag around with a group like this. I thought you would make Saunders come up as the contestant instead."

"Eh, well, things happened."

"Yeah, sure," Daniel said as if he heard that before. He then turns his attention to Miho. "Either way, I hope we have a good match against you and the rest of Ōarai and its… well… groups."

"I hope so too!" Miho replied.

Daniel laughed, "Good, at least I know I'm fighting against another sporty type around here. Everyone around here and Europe takes Tankery way too seriously." He then steps back. "Let's hope for a good fight!"

"Let's hope for a good fight!" Miho said back as he began to step away back to the vehicle. The duo was soon away and out of their hands. To Miho, they reminded her a lot of Katyusha and Nonna, if Katyusha had humility.

"Who was that girl?" Yukari asked from behind Miho.

"The tag says Isabelle Bradly," Kay answered. "She must be their second-in-command."

 _Quite a contrast between the two indeed…_ Miho thought before snapping herself back into the situation. "Okay everyone! Back to the tanks! The match is starting soon!"

* * *

"What do you think of them Isabelle?" Daniel asked as she drove the jeep across the rather bumpy terrain.

"Honestly sir? Kind of disappointed," She replied. "What about you sir? You admire her?"

"I think she's headstrong. She's got the guts, and in the matches she's got talents for sure."

"Hmmm…"

"Anyways, all the crew ready to go?"

"Yes sir. Everything's ready just as we practiced," Isabelle said with a small tinge of confidence. "I'm still surprised you got the approval."

"I'm surprised too, but after seeing some of their tanks, I'm glad I did. Make sure 'Minnie' gets to the position ASAP."

"Roger that commander," Isabelle said. "We'll follow your every command."

"To victory!" Daniel said while pumping his hand high.

* * *

During the wait, Miho took the time to gather the different group commanders for the operation planning. Kay used her M4 Sherman to set up a tarp for a makeshift tent. The shade provided greatly cooled down the small group of commanders underneath it.

"So what's the plan Miho?" Kay asked.

"The battlefield has distinctive areas of terrain," Miho said as she pointed at the map laid out in the center. "Two main sides of the map, East and West. These two sides are divided by this mountain side in the middle cutting across the whole way."

"Makes it easy to isolate the enemy group and destroy them!" Katyusha said.

"But the same can happen to us too Katyusha," Nonna pointed out.

"What's important I think," Miho said, "is the mountainous zone in the middle. If we can't hold that portion we lose a good amount of coordination between the group and, like Katyusha and Nonna said, we could be isolated and knocked out."

"So what do you propose commander?" Darjeeling asked her before taking a sip of her hot tea.

"So here's what I think…" Miho said. "Sunflower will be on the west side in the open since their heavy armor would make it able to survive the landscape if they come across hostiles," Miho said as she pointed to the map. "Dandelion should come up in the middle on this mountain road. However, I don't know how well this road is so this plan might change at that point."

"Fine by me," Kay said. "We're used to narrow fighting with Italy."

"Say what?" Anchovy perked up.

"Finally, the East side should be taken on by Jasmine," Miho said.

"What about you Miho?" Nishi asked. "Where will you station your HQ group?"

"Hmmm…" Miho thought. She'd hope for a height advantage, but the conflict for the center area is unknown and its visibility would still be limited to only one side of the map due to the vast space of the area. "Okay, I'll position HQ along with Dandelion."

"Don't worry we'll keep you safe!" Kay said as she put Miho in an elbow hold.

"We kind of have to anyways commander…" Alisa said. "She's our flag tank..."

She took herself off of Kay's hold. "Remember to stay in communication. Stay together, don't stray off alone. We may have an estimated account on what tanks they may field, but it could be different."

"Yes ma'am!" Kay said playfully.

"This better not end up like last time Miho!" Katyusha said.

"Wasn't last time caused by you?" Mika said as she still strung her Kantele.

"What's that suppose to mean?!"

"Girls! Please!" Miho said to the rising tones. "We need to focus at the situation at hand."

The two school girls settled their differences aside as they turned their attention back to Miho.

"With the open space on the west, Sunflower will most likely get the brunt of the enemy forces. They will be supported by Dandelion once they can secure the middle. But, we won't know the enemy's movements until the heat of combat, so I want Dandelion to keep on the alert in case the enemy appear in the east against Jasmine."

"Fine by me," Darjeeling said. "Our new tanks should be able to be independent of support for longer than usual."

"Is everyone else okay with this plan?" Miho asked the group.

Nishi raised her hand.

"Nishi?"

"What other possible vehicles do you think they can field?"

"Huh?"

"You're making these thoughts on 'most likely M4 Shermans and Stuarts' from your assumptions the other day, but what else can you expect?"

"What else?" Miho was at a small lost. She did think of some possible contenders they could be fighting if they did not go with a true battalion structure. "Maybe some tank destroyers? If I remember the rules correctly, they can bring in the M10 tank destroyers or even the M36. Maybe even the T28…"

"We won't have a bridge to lodge ourselves under if we see another of that though," Darjeeling enthusiastically added.

"But I can't make any assurance until we actually meet on the battlefield," Miho finished.

"Understood commander!" Nishi said, satisfied with the answer.

"Anything else?" Miho asked again.

A long pause before Darjeeling raised her hand, "What do you want to call this operation?"

"Eh? Ummm…" Miho thought. This was something she didn't think of.

"Three cheese pizza!"

"No! Tri-Tip Steak!"

"Takoyaki!"

"How about 'Zipper'?" Mika mentioned.

"Huh? Zipper?" The commanders asked.

"The map is like two sides separated in the middle. Sending a team to close it up through the middle," she said with a sharp note on the instrument. "...like a zipper."

A pause before Katyusha first reacted. "What kind of name is-"

"I'll take it!" Miho said.

"Eh?" Katyusha said surprised at this predicament. "Ergh, fine!"

"So this plan is 'Operation: Zipper'! Please everyone, do your best!" Miho pleaded.

"Heh, Miho. Don't worry!" Kay said patting her back. "Because we're going to go out there and kick some butt!"

"Yeah!"

"Alright, Operation: Zipper! Begin!"

* * *

 **South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"So what's the plan Cap'n?" CPL Ethan asked not only his tank commander, but commander of the entire Armored Cadet present. Technically, Daniel was a Cadet Sergeant Major of the Armored Cadets, but the rest of the team had become accustomed to calling him 'captain' because he was the, well, captain of the team. Ethan said this as he laid down a card on the hot metal of a Sherman turret.

"Standard movements," SGM Daniel Marshall said as he followed up with another card.

"Bullshit" PVT Conner said.

"No, I really am."

"No, bullshit. You ain't got a 7 Cap'n." PVT Conner said, gesturing to the card pile.

Daniel smirked and sighed as he collected the entire card pile, "Got me again private."

"Heh, you may outmatch me in sports, but you can't lie your way out of this."

"Fair enough private."

"Captain," PVT Noah said, "Mind filling us in on your plan?"

"Very well private," Daniel said as he unfolded a map onto the turret where they were playing cards. "I believe they will focus their forces here on the west side of the map."

"So all the heavy hitters there?" CPL Ethan asked.

"Most likely," Daniel responded. "But I'm only committing half of ours there."

"What? Where'd the other half go?" PVT Noah asked.

"Sending them onto the middle. It's a prime area to send extra forces through for flanking and isolation of the other two regions."

"What about us Cap'n?" CPL Ethan asked.

"We're going with the forces on the west, whole HQ and all."

"Front line command post?" PVT Conner asked.

"400 meter distance between front line tanks and us. Don't worry, as long as we standoff a distance, we won't get into any fire."

"Yeah, as long as our own team don't shoot us first," PVT Conner said.

"Firstly, they better not, we're the flag tank. Secondly, that won't happen, none of the enemy's tanks look anything like ours. Besides, I-"

"Umm, Sarge?" CPL Hill said as he sticked his head out of the commander's cupola of the turret.

"What?" Daniel said, turning his head to his official rank.

"Um, it's Sergeant Isabelle sir. She's, well, pissed you aren't at ready position…" CPL Hill said as though he was shaken up by whatever was on the other side of the radio transmission.

"Tell her I'll be ready in a gist and am currently on standby."

Hill paused as he gawked at Daniel's statement before returning to his radio with a "uh… He's on standby at the moment."

" _WHAT?!_ " The returning transmission could be heard out to Daniel's ears.

Daniel sighed, "Well kiddos, back to our posts or she'll have my neck for this."

The crew of _Hatin' Love_ groaned as PVT Noah packed up his cards. PVT Conner headed to the oval loader's hatch on the left side of the turret while CPL Hill got out of the commander's position which he temporarily inherited. CPL Ethan got in the turret first and took the gunner's position before SGM Daniel got in. CPL Hill in turn went to the driver's position on the front left of the Sherman's hull and PVT Noah went to the bow gunner's position on the right.

CPL Ethan made his routine check on the gun while PVT Conner reached down into the hull and opened a container. Inside were rows of 76 mm ammunition for the gun. He reached down and picked one of the 24 pound M61 APC rounds and slammed it into the gun breech, closing as soon as the round fully seated itself.

"Up!" Conner yelled through the turret before putting on his M1938 US tanker helmet. The Ford GAA V8 engine was started up as Hill triggered the ignition.

In the commander's position, Daniel reached for the radio piece that he's been neglectful of for the past few minutes.

"Hello there."

" _What took you?!_ " Isabelle's voice could be heard. " _Y'know what? I don't even care anymore. We're starting soon_."

"Right, hold steady and ready," Daniel said before he started changing the radio channel to the entire battalion. "All tanks, this is 'Mickey'. Start them up. Match is starting in just a few. Remember the plan and think about it one step forward. Let's get some kills boys." Daniel said before ending his transmission.

* * *

 **North side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The announcement system rung a siren through the last minute before the match started. Once the minute was up, a flare went up from the referee area, signaling the start of the match.

"Panzer Vor!" Miho shouted into her mic. Soon all the tanks were in motion towards their objective.

Sunflower formed up in a line as they marched south towards the enemy on the west side. On the east, Jasmine took up a staggered column as they made their way down south, maneuvering around the various large rock formations and foliage in the way. Dandelion took the middle. A single road lead in between the mountains that Saunders' tank patrolled down in a column, while Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks took the mountain roads on the west and east side of the main road. Miho and her other accompanying tanks, the M3 Lee and Type 89, were following behind the Chi-Ha-Tan tanks on the west side of the road up on the mountainside. They were about 100 meters higher than Saunders at the moment.

"Mako, drive carefully, keep your eyes on the road," Miho called in the intercom.

"Right," Mako replied in her usual monotone voice.

"It's almost as if you become invisible unless you talk…" Saori said.

"Well, you won't have to worry about becoming invisible then Saori," Hana said.

"Uh, what?"

"Saori, keep focused," Miho said into her mic as she looked out in the horizon.

The sandy mountain and the tall cactuses brush past the tank as they move, with Miho staying alert for low-hanging trees on the mountains hanging onto the road. In some places along the drive, she could see the west side desert, full of large sand dunes and with only minimal plant life. No cover except the dunes for Sunflower, thus a reliance on their heavy armor like the IS-2 and Black Prince is a must.

About ten minutes into the match, Miho got the status reports.

" _HQ, this is Jasmine 1. Nothing to report here."_

" _HQ, this is Dandelion 1. Nothing yet!"_

" _HQ, this is Sunflower 1. Nothing to report."_

" _This is HQ, roger that! Keep the pace!"_ Miho replied to each one. They were about a third down the map now. It was a big arena, fitting for a 30 vs. 30 tank battle. Things could get chaotic if they were restricted to a single area.

"It's just endless desert…" Saori commented on the surrounding.

"The Mojave desert spans between three states. California, Nevada, and Arizona."

"What if we got lost in the middle of here?!" Saori frantically asked.

"Don't worry," Yukari said. "Mojave Desert is an active area for the U.S. Military. They've got bases like Fort Irwing here meant for training."

"That's not really the answer I'm hoping for…" Saori muttered.

Just as she said that, her radio came to life. " _HQ, this is Sunflower 1, we've spotted the enemy. 800 meters south of our position. Over._ "

"Sunflower, this is HQ! Acknowledged!" Saori responds to the radio set to her left. She then looked up to Miho. "Miho! Sunflower got contact with the enemy 800 meters south of their position!"

"Tell them to hold steady and be ready to engage!" Miho said. "All units, Sunflower has made contact with the enemy! Prepare for contact!"

* * *

 **East side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The L3/33 bumped along with the small terrain changes on the right, swerving and turning to avoid the large rock formations scattered around. As the scout, the L3 was in front of the rest of the crowd alongside the BT-42.

Pepperoni hit another small bump and had her head crash into the tankette's roof. Thankfully, she was wearing her helmet. "Oi, I'm gonna feel this one the next day…" she muttered.

"C-Commander! Over there!" Her gunner yelled out as Pepperoni focused back to her front.

Pepperoni yelped as she swerved the tankette hard to the right into the cover of a rock formation tiny enough to protect them before rounds came in an impacted where they were just at. Pepperoni picked up her radio. "Duce! Come in! This is Pepperoni! We got contact with the enemy!"

" _How many?!_ " Anchovy's voice came through.

"Uh, I dunno!" Pepperoni honestly answered.

" _Then check it!_ " Anchovy came in again.

Not wanting to risk the entire tankette again, Pepperoni opened the hatch on top for her and climbed out. Going as far as standing over the rock cover she was behind was already exposing herself, but without thinking she went ahead. The other side delivered a full salvo of machine gun fire for her trouble.

As she fell back down into the L3/33 tankette, she grabbed the radio. "A lot!"

" _Fine! That'll do! Get back here!_ " Anchovy screamed.

"No need to tell me twice!" Pepperoni said as the L3/33 began speeding away from the cover and making a hasty withdrawal. The tanks began to fire.

Meanwhile at the BT-42, Mika observed more clearly what is going on. "Jasmine 1, this is Jasmine 2," She said clearly and calmly into her radio piece. "We've come across enemy tanks. Looks like… four tank destroyers. Hellcats. Over." She finished.

" _Roger that Jasmine 2! Get back here and regroup!_ " Anzu's voice came through.

"Will do," Mika replied before closing the transmission. "Mikko! Let's go!"

"Right!" Mikko said grinning as she revved up the BT-42's engine.

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Now Jasmine's got contact with the enemy!" Saori screamed to Miho.

"Alright, all groups, be aware of-" Miho was about to order before a shell shot screamed out to her left. She saw down that Saunders was in contact with an enemy down range of the center hill. Machine gun tracers were also in the fray along with distinctive white streaking tracers of shells being fired.

" _HQ! HQ! Dandelion is under fire from unknown enemy!_ " Miho heard Kay's voice come through.

Miho could see a dust cloud down range and took out a binocular to look down. She could see a platoon of Shermans rolling down the center area. She then looked at the mountain side, sure enough there were also Shermans posted up high.

"Dandelion! This is HQ!" Miho yelled into her own radio. "Contact with the enemy. Direction: South! Range: 1000 meters!"

"Miho! Update from Jasmine! They're not engaging tanks! They are tank destroyers!"

Miho was surprised by that news. "What kind?"

"M18 Hellcats!" Saori shouted.

"M18's?!" Miho didn't expect that. Surely she expected some form of upgunning, but she'd imagine something along the lines of a M10. "Tell Jasmine to stay cautious and watch for ambush points! Those M18s will rely on hitting them as they move forwards!"

"Okay!" Saori said as she got to the radio work.

"Leopon, this is HQ. Prepare your 88 mm cannon. Fire at the Shermans down on the ground level!"

" _Roger that!"_ Miho heard Leopon team say from their Tiger Porsche. The Tiger Porsche was stationed on the mountain roads, but farther behind to make greater use of the gun depression to hit far away targets on the bottom center road. Leopon got back onto the radio once ready, " _We're ready! On the way!"_ They screamed.

Miho saw the distinctive tracer of the 88 mm before she heard the gun sound report. She watched the 88 mm tracer zip from an area behind her down the center mountain road right into one of the four Shermans lined up.

However, when the 88 mm made contact, Miho saw the tracer light move, not disappear. It moved in an angle as it went from a straight hit to upwards. A ricochet.

"Hmm?" Miho looked with disbelief. Even at that range, the angle the shot hit was a direct hit. It would've taken out any Sherman, and Miho saw a fired 88 mm enough time to know when it would and when it wouldn't.

" _HQ, this is Sunflower 1. Our 17-pounder shots are bouncing off these Shermans. Pekoe! Switch to sabot! Over."_ Miho heard Darjeeling said over the radio.

"Wait a second…" Miho said as she picked up her binoculars again. She looked at the Sherman which the 88 mm bounced off from. It didn't look any different from a normal Sherman aside from its full welded front hull armor. But that turret… that gun mantlet… Miho came to a conclusion very quickly as she picked up her radio.

"All units come in!" Miho cried out. "Those are not Shermans! Those are Jumbos!"

* * *

"What the hell?!" Kay screamed as she received that. _These wasn't in any of their inventory before!_

Her gunner fired another round of the 75 mm round from the Sherman. But if Miho was right, there wasn't much point. The frontal armor of the 101 mm thick with the modified armor, and that's without taking sloping into consideration. With the 47 degree sloping, it was a mighty tough 150 mm thick in effectiveness.

The cycle continued as the loader chugged in another 75 mm round. But the interior of the turret was nearly deafening between the firing and the changing situation. She could see her loader's mouth move as she looked towards her, but felt nothing else. _Did she seriously screw up the expectations?_

"I said, what the hell are we supposed to do now, ma'am?!" Kay's loader screamed louder.

Kay took a deep breath. _Whoa there… calm down girl._ She mentally processed. "Naomi! Alisa! Move up closer to their position!"

" _They've got 76 mm shells raining on us from the mountain sides!_ " Alisa's voice come in.

"Any moment more we stay here is as another stationary target!" Kay replied through the radio. "You stay here, you're a dead tank!"

" _God damn it!_ " Alisa cried out as her M4A1 (76) W Sherman began moving again. The whole situation was chaotic, but technically it was still winnable.

"Gotta hope Miho's got something up her sleeves…" Kay muttered to herself.

* * *

 **East side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Whoop!" Anchovy yelped as her P40 tank came to an abrupt halt as a shell streaked and ricochet off the frontal armor. "Right there! Fire!" The 75 mm cannon of the tank fired, but the M18 had already retreated away from its firing location by the time the gunner got it in its crosshair. "Carpaccio! There's a tank destroyer there! Go get it!"

"Roger that Duce!" Carpaccio said and her Semovente 75/18 followed suit.

The driver of the P40 also wanted to follow…

"No wait, pull back!" Anchovy said too late as the driver went forwards. Soon a loud crack was heard on the left side of her tank before the tank began swerving left. The distinctive sound of the tracks breaking followed.

The P40 swerved and when Anchovy recovered, she could see a fired M18 Hellcat still aiming at them. Taking its time reloading to take out the stationary medium tank.

"Ack! Gunner! Machine gun! Go! Go! Go!" Anchovy stamped out. The P40 fired the Breda 38 machine guns it had towards the M18. Though mostly covered, the crew was still exposed and Anchovy saw them sticking their heads down as far as possible when the bullets started flying.

The M18 fired again, but the streaking shell went too far to the left. The panicked crew had misaligned their 76 mm gun while loading.

"Loaded Duce!" Anchovy heard her loader cry out.

"Fire at that sod!" Anchovy screamed out as the P40 shot the 75 mm cannon. The shell traveled and hit the M18 square on the front hull. The M18 spun around due to its lightweight before settling down with a white flag sitting up.

"Yes!" Anchovy pumped her fist, "first strike!"

The crew did a mini-celebration in the tank. When it died down, Anchovy sent out a rather interesting question.

"Soo… uh, who wants to fix the tracks?"

* * *

 **West side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Darjeeling wondered if this was the type of frustration her opponents had to face when they struggled to penetrate through her old Churchill tank. Shots after shots from even the new 17-pounder gun proved rather ineffective against the Jumbo's frontal armor. She's resorted to the limited amount of sabot rounds for the gun, but sometimes even that wasn't a reliable penetration. If that wasn't enough, she saw some of the crew members of the Shermans manning the machine guns. The bullets riddled the tank from top and bottom. Not only was each shot annoying, but the repair prices increase for every damage done, and the .50 caliber rounds can put quite a dent.

The only two tank in Sunflower able to reliably destroy the Jumbos at any range was Nonna's IS-2 and the KV-2. Unfortunately, the two tanks were a tad troublesome to reload.

"Rosehip, hold back," Darjeeling radioed in again as she looked out her cupola and saw Rosehip's Cromwell platoon peeking out again. Keeping Rosehip in line was also a challenge now that she had her old platoon again. What good was a scout if it was dead?

"Roger that Ms. Darjeeling!" Rosehip replied heartily. "There's a M4A3 towards our 3 o'clock!"

"Understood Rosehip, we'll focus fire there," Darjeeling replied. Rosehip's close proximity has helped them find out that not all the tanks were Jumbos, some were regular Shermans that could be knocked out by normal guns like the 85 mm on Pravda's T-34-85s.

The 17-pounder was also quite a good job at that against the regular Shemans. The 17-pounder gave St. Gloriana a very appreciable firepower boost. Though there were still some stuff required to getting used to. "Pekoe, is something wrong?" Darjeeling asked.

"No Ms. Darjeeling," Pekoe responded. "It's the rounds. They're a lot…" She said as she lifted a large shell for the 17-pounder. "...heavier than the old 75…"

"Well, you'll need to get used to it, this is our new tank after all."

"Understood Ms. Darjeeling!" Pekoe said as she gasped for air.

Darjeeling looked out her cupola and looked at the Shermans at the distance. The Shermans were all still firing at them, while Sunflower returned the favor. At a distance of 400 meters, the firing just flashed, impacted, and whizzed as it failed to penetrate.

However, Darjeeling also noted something. _Why are they just standing there?_ The Shermans there were not particularly active, especially the Jumbos. Sure they moved occasionally to shake off targeting, but if they wanted a chance, they should get closer so their 75 or 76 mm guns are more effective. But… _They're just standing there…_

* * *

 **Center of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Miporin! They've got one kill over at Jasmine and Sunflower's managing to hold!" Saori relayed the message to Miho.

"That's great!" Miho said. _And we haven't lost one tank yet! Well, one damaged... but still in play!_

"It's a bit odd though…" Yukari said.

"What do you mean?" Miho asked.

"Well, shouldn't they be more offensive-oriented? The M4 Shermans, even the upgraded ones, were more cavalry-oriented, not like doctrinal heavy tanks. That's why even the heavily armored ones are called 'assault', not 'heavy'. Yet, these guys are just standing far off firing at us…"

"Maybe they just feel more comfortable the farther away they are from us?" Mako called out.

"And even so, the tanks reported on both sides. Four hellcats, eight tanks on left, eight tanks in center. That's only 20 tanks. Where's the rest of them?!"

Miho thought about that. It's true. Only 20 of the enemy tanks have been reported so far.

"Maybe they just forgot to bring them!" Saori said with optimism.

"Doubt it," Hana strictly replied.

"Reserves maybe?" Miho wondered. "But there's no need for reserves even in a Sensha-Dou match… What are they up to?"

* * *

" _Kay! You getting this?!_ " Alisa cried out.

"Alisa? What do you want?" Kay replied. "Gunner, fire!"

" _Kay, I'm picking up some heavy radio traffic coming down range!_ "

"Heavy- Are you intercepting transmissions again?!" Kay yelled in.

" _N-no! Never!_ "

"Then how can you tell?" Kay asked.

" _It's the receiving! Didn't you notice our transmissions are getting less clear or fast as usual?_ "

Kay held off a bit before answering. "Now that you mention it… But what does this mean?"

" _Well, why would the American Cadet Alliance need more radio traffic than us?!_ "

"Well, you need radio for a lot of things! Status reports, position checks, attack coordination, information gathering, arti-" Kay stopped. She looked out her cupola at the tanks down range. "No way… they wouldn't… why would they need that?!"

" _We ARE sitting ducks!_ " Alisa cried out. " _We have to get out of here!_ "

 _How can they change so quickly?!_

* * *

 **West side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The IS-2 fired again, but the 122 mm unfortunately failed to penetrate the Jumbo as it angled sideways. They have already fired 10 rounds, meaning about 18 more shots to go.

"Damn!" Katyusha said as she watched the shots fly. "I want to see that thing go up!"

" _Apologies Katyusha,_ " Nonna said nonchalantly.

"Grr…" Katyusha gritted as she looked at the battlefield with her binoculars. The Jumbos were standing off far and with only partially exposing their front armor and turret, using the dunes to cover up the rest. It was a rather annoying play style, Katyusha wanted to charge! But maybe it was all a trap to make them move closer. Katyusha would hate to fall into traps, she wanted to make them instead!

KV-tan was also having bad luck, it suffered almost a fifty shots so far to the turret. They all bounced, but the crew inside were all miserable from the concussions. Not to mention loading the 88 pound shells and casings was not an easy job to do even on the firing range.

"What are we going to do now?" Katyusha radioed in.

" _Keep calm and carry on,_ " Darjeeling said back.

"Okay, stay put and die then…" Katyusha said.

" _All units, all units! This is HQ!_ " Katyusha heard her old rival's voice cry through the radio, which she listened in. " _Be advised! The enemy team has…"_

That was all Katyusha heard before everything around her went deafening loud.

* * *

 **I'm back! Thanksgiving break was fun!**

 **Finally, some action eh? This chapter actually took up some work as I had to research Mojave a bit. The result? Turns out I know next to nothing of SoCal whilst living in NorCal. Shame too, because I've been to the Mojave before and messed up a good bit of detail when I did my first draft of this. Enough of geographies.**

 **I'm honestly glad we're back to some tank action. It's fun to write about combat situations than the other plot, even if I know the other plot is going to be the driving force of the rest of the story. But that's for another time. I think the worst part about writing stories like this is the same thing in warfare: Logistics. How does X get Y to this point? How can I make that make sense? How can I explain it without breaching three different regulations in transportation firms of Z country? You get the gist. Just another fun thing to write about I suppose.**

 **Also some bad news. I'm sure you would understand though. COLLEGE FINALS. They're next week, so no updates next week! I'll use the extra time to make sure things go right in the future story!**

 **Thanks for all the support, especially those who've been with me since the start! If you want to see what happened to poor Katyusha, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story! What sort of slapstick humor will I go through with these boys and girls next?! FIND OUT NEXT TIME (DBZ tune out).**

 ***Edit:* Agh, I messed up on Cadet rankings (no officers apparently). Fixed.**


	10. Big Guns

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 10: Big Guns**

 **30 minutes ago - South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The flare went up into the air from the referee section.

"All companies, move out!" Daniel said into his radio.

"All tanks move out," were the responses coming in from the radio traffic as each company leader directs their platoons to their assigned sections. Four divided groups were made of the team, making each company rather pitiful in size. Daniel like to think of it as "two platoons per section". In truth, the 30 tank limit had hurt their uniformity in the companies, everything was rather mixed.

The three tank Battalion Headquarters, or "Mickey" as per code names, was following Company "Donald" on the west side of the map. A large desert area with nearly no cover except bits of rocks here and a sand dune there. Donald was composed of eight tanks. Three M4A3E2 Jumbos, and another Jumbo with a 76 mm instead of the standard 75 mm. Three more were regular M4A3 tanks with a 2-1 mix of 75 mm to 76 mm cannons. The last one was a simple M24 Chaffee light tank, which carries a role greater than its weight. Having Mickey tag along help bolster the west side strength to 11 tanks.

Company "Chip" was assigned the center mountain road. Their tank composition was the same as Donald. The variety of the terrain made movement complicated but Daniel gave them a simple job. _Stop their advance_. Thus, Jumbos took the center road with an objective to block them with their broken hulls if they must and the Shermans and Chaffee taking the high roads for firing support.

Company "Pete" was a tank destroyer group, outfitted with newly refurbished M18 Hellcats taken out of the U.S. Army inventory. Most of the new tanks replacing their older M4 Shermans and Stuarts were taken out of nearly forgotten depots across the states, but the Hellcats were from a special place.

 _Hopefully, the National Armor and Cavalry Museum didn't have anything planned for those in the coming months._ Daniel thought about the acquisition. There wasn't any protest, but there wasn't any consent either. He shrugged, he hoped their efforts won't go to waste.

Four Hellcats made up Company "Pete". Small in comparison to the others, but their role was to stop enemy from advancing straight through the east side, not hunt them down aggressively. Their armor prevented them from using it in that way anyways.

"Mickey", the headquarters group, was made up of three M4A3E8 tanks. Daniel's own tank, Hatin' _Love,_ was alongside the two other Shermans _Heathen's Den_ and _Harold._

The M4A3 (76) W HVSS Sherman Daniel and his crew affectionately named _Hatin' Love_ , a name they had used on their previous M4 Sherman, would not have been recognized now from how it was when they first received it. The sand skirts on the suspension sides had been removed for easier access to the suspension bogies and idler wheels. The aforementioned machine gun was mounted for Daniel's personal liking, the M2 Browning on the back was simply out of his reach to use when the moment arrives. A painted decal of the Armored Cadet's emblem was painted on the both sides of the hull, a triangle imagery of a bald eagle's head facing towards the front with an intial "A.C.A." under the eagle. The decal was made up of red, blue, and a dark yellow-orange color, a throwback to the armored division's symbol used in World War II. The tank's name was plastered in bright white paint on the gun barrel about a third from the gun mantlet.

The crew also added their personal items to the tank's exterior. Some were simple canvas bags, tarps, or a bundle of ponchos. Something each and every crew member valued and kept safe right behind the turret was the "woobie", a poncho liner that can serve not only as a form of blanket, but also a pillow, tent, jacket liner, mattress, and even as concealment thanks to its camouflage color. It's was invaluable, even in comparison to food.

The back rack of the personalized M4A3 had gasoline fuel in jerry cans, fuel containers derived from the German Wehrmacht in World War II. The M4A3 had enough fuel for a whole day and a half worth of fighting and movement, though that was considering if the crew was acting conservative. Despite the M4A3's rather reasonable fuel mileage, fuel disappears if one doesn't pay attention to it.

Inside the M4A3 was another story compared to outside. The crew have decorated the inside however they desired with the only requirement being that they be easily removed if need be. Thus, chalk drawings were made in the inside hull of various creativity. Pictures were taped on the side of the crew's family, such as Noah's girlfriend back home or Ethan's extended family in Canada. Aside from that, everything else was stowed with ammunition, food, water, and their personal weapons. Each cadet was issued a league-approved M1911A1 pistol, though the driver and bow machine gunner were also supplied with a M3 "Grease Gun" and the Commander with a Thompson. Of course, each crew could also bring their own personal league-approved weapons if they wanted, but sometimes standard-issue worked the best.

The tanks rumbled alongside each other. They were behind Donald by a good 400 meters, far enough to bug out if it was necessary, but close enough to bring support if needed to. The Shermans already pack a big punch with their 76 mm cannon. However, Daniel was still skeptical of whether he prepared enough for this fight. They've trained all week with these new equipment before the fight to get familiar with the new equipment. It's been satisfactory, but was it enough? Many of the crew were instilled with what they believed in their old tanks, could they get used to their new ones?

Daniel didn't think too much of that. The simplicity of parts made adapting to the newer Shermans definitely easier than if they had, say, gotten the M26 Pershing instead. The Jumbos and new M4A3 and M4A3E8 models were almost similar internally with the older Sherman models. Not to mention the Chaffee had the same drive, power, and transmission of the older Stuarts. Therefore, driving in these new tanks is easy, its just a matter of getting use to the newer armor and firepower.

After some time traveling up north towards the enemy, Daniel took up his radio, "All units this is Mickey. Status report, over."

" _This is Donald 1! Donald 8 has found the enemy tanks! North of us! 1,000 meters! Out!_ " Daniel heard the commander of Donald, SGT Brian Jackson, report.

" _This is Chip 1. We've taken position in the center mountain road. Identified moving targets roughly 1,100 meters north of us! Out!"_ SGT Kyline Lee of Chip reported.

" _This is Pete 1. Still maneuvering into positions, we've got- Enemy sighted! Shoot that bastard!_ " SGT Maurice Montana of Pete reported. " _Mickey 1! We've gotten contact with… what appears to be a tankette! Out!_ " The report was sent in with machine gun fire from the commander's M2 Brownings in the background.

 _We're in the shit now…_ Daniel thought as he took the radio. "All units this is Mickey! Enemy contact at all fronts! Prepare to engage and eliminate hostiles!"

" _Donald copies!"_

" _Chip copies!_ "

" _Pete Copies!_ "

" _Minnie Copies!_ "

All the companies acquired the order. Then Daniel sent out a specific order.

"Observers, prepare to call it in!"

* * *

 **Still South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

CPL Lewis Benningham lazed on his vehicle in what little shade the makeshift roof cover the crew made with a tarp.

The vehicle was a complete shift in their usual doctrine in Tankery. Such a forgotten theory that they had to reinvent classes for it, talk to old hardened veterans, practice at the gunnery range for almost the whole day, learning the new commands. It was just tiring and honestly, he was surprised that the sergeant major didn't get any orders to cease for the heavy efforts needed to make it all work.

He was part of Minnie Company, a company laying back in the rear of all the three regions of the map. The company was a strange one, composed of two groups of six vehicles just like the one he was in and the one far in the back that Sergeant Isabelle Bradley was commandeering. As the commander of the company, the sergeant was in charge of receiving information from the other companies. He and his three vehicle platoon were assigned to assist the companies in middle and the west region. Benningham's sure the other group is assigned to the other side and the middle as well.

But so far, nothing has come yet. Being far from the front-lines this early in the match, Benningham is not concerned with any enemy infiltrators. Even if they did, the vehicles have an assortment of ammunition to deal with them as well. So with that, the company had been in a relaxed state. Some were playing little games like cards and such. Benningham didn't care much about that so decided to take the time to get some rest.

About 25 minutes into the match from start. His radio came to live. " _Minnie 2. This is Minnie Actual. Fire Mission. Over!"_

"Look alive ladies! Game time!" Benningham screamed towards his crew to get back to order. He takes the radio. "Minnie Actual, this is Minnie 02, Ready to receive. Out."

" _Grid Echo 515 229. Over."_

"Grid Echo 515 229! Out!" Benningham repeated the coordinates, shouting so the crew could hear.

" _Nine tanks. In the open. Over!"_

"Nine tanks in the open! Out!" Benningham confirmed.

" _H.E. in effect. 3 rounds out. Over!"_

"H.E. in effect! 3 rounds out! Over!" Benningham confirmed before turning to his crew. They were orienting the large cannon piece on the vehicle. The driver had turned the now active vehicle towards the grid direction while the gunner serviced the piece. Benningham then turned to the platoon radio. "All guns! Fire Mission! Grid Echo 515 229! H.E. in effect! 3 rounds out! Over!"

The platoon came to life as Benningham sent the orders. Amidst the motor engine and clattering of metals inside his vehicle, he could hear the crew of the other vehicles shouting out commands.

"Gun sighted!" The gunner cried out.

"Fire!" Benningham cried out, followed by the cannon firing. The vehicle buckled lightly with the gun's recoil. As it fired, a breech operator to the right of the gun opened the manual breech, letting the spent casing fall out of the cannon as a loader quickly loads in another round.

"Up!" The loader acknowledged.

"Fire!" Benningham said again before the gunner triggered the gun. The cycle continued once more until the three rounds were fired.

A pause followed. A few seconds followed from the firing before Benningham heard the explosions of the rounds landing a good distance away. The grid coordinates weren't very far from their location.

Benningham's company radio came alive again. " _Fire for effect, over!"_

"Roger that! Firing for effect! Out!" Benningham replied. With that, the crew took up a ready stance for a mass repetition of reloading and firing. "All units! Fire for effect!" Benningham finished with the platoon radio.

The clatter of 105 mm shells as they rolled on the vehicle's floor came as the loader maneuvered his way to the 105 mm stowages on the sides. The tank, no, the self-propelled gun, was now an important part of the Armored Cadets battle style in this match. The loader sent in another 105 mm HE shell into the breech, which the breech operator closed shut. The M7 Priests artillery platoon was primed and ready. Training for the last week on their proper usage, they used it confidently to rain death onto their opponents.

"Up!" The loader said.

"Fire!"

* * *

 **West side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Katyusha couldn't hear anything. Her vision came in and out, lines were disoriented and colors faded. She looked around, her gunner was clutching her ears hard and the loader on her right seemed like she was crying.

But why? Katyusha couldn't make anything out of the situation at the moment. Only that something was now calling to her. The voice grew louder, her hearing was coming back. Her vision too, she looked out through the vision ports of the cupola. She could see the rolling dunes of the desert.

 _Mojave…_ She thought. She shook her head. Everything was disoriented. Knocking herself on her head a few times, she looked back up. Colors were back, the noise. Explosions. Finally, she registered to the radio.

" _Katyusha! What happened?! Answer me!_ " She could hear Nonna's frantic cries for her.

She took the radio in her hand. "Er.. eh, I'm here…"

" _Katyusha?! Are you okay?!"_ Nonna continued.

"Eerrgh!" Katyusha grasped reality back into her head. "I'm fine! What's going on here?!"

" _You took an artillery shell to the front!"_

Katyusha looked around, she noticed her front vision ports were damaged beyond usability. She peeked out of her cupola. The front of her T-34-85 was all busted and blasted. The gun mantlet was a mess, but the gun was surprisingly still fine. She got back into the tank. "Hey! We got to move forwards! If one's come down here, there's more to come!"

" _Understood,_ " Darjeeling said over the radio, " _All Sunflower units. Move forwards._ "

" _I cannot."_ Nonna's voice came in.

"Huh?" Katyusha was concerned. "Nonna! Why not?!"

" _The tracks…_ "

Katyusha looked at Nonna's direction. The IS-2 was fine physically, but the right tracks…

" _The tracks been destroyed by the artillery spotting fire…_ " Nonna replied.

"Nonna!"

" _Katyusha! Klara! You must go!_ "

"No Nonna!" Katyusha cried out. "Not again!"

" _Katyusha!_ " Klara called to her. " _If we stay here, we are all done for!_ "

" _Go Katyusha!_ "

Katyusha looked back and forth. At the disabled IS-2 and forward. Katyusha gritted her teeth. _Not again…_

"Driver! Forwards!"

The T-34-85 quickly lurched forwards, Klara's tank following. 75 mm and 76 mm shells from the Shermans downrange came towards them, but the T-34 shrugged them off. The other tanks followed.

Nonna looked from inside her IS-2 at the fleeting tank group.

"Take care, Katyusha…"

Moments after the position was abandoned. A barrage of thundering explosions came from where they were. Loads of shells pummeled that speck of land constantly with explosions every seconds. Katyusha looked back at the destruction. Maybe, just maybe, Nonna would make it out of there.

The barrage increased, bright glares flared up from each impact, explosions burst in the air. When the initial barrage settled, Katyusha looked again.

She could see the white flag hanging off Nonna's IS-2.

"Nonna…" Katyusha said bitterly. Once again, she had to leave someone behind to save her own skin.

No, now wasn't the time for these thoughts! Katyusha looked forwards again. She saw the Shermans and Jumbos still a distance away firing at them. She mustered strength and resolve. "Grrrr! Look, if we can't fight that artillery, let's make them unable to use them! Close into those Shermans!"

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Artillery…" Miho looked at the situation. The Panzer IV managed to get itself a view of the west region of the map. She saw the explosions landing area, then the mangled IS-2 tank. The loss of Nonna's tank is an impact in Sunflower's firepower, but… they still had a chance with the salvation of the rest of the group.

"Wow…" Yukari looked at the carnage with awe. She hadn't seen an effect of American firepower like that before. The usage of 105 mm in tanks was rare due to the sacrifice in kinetic armor-piercing power, velocity, and slow reload in the assault Shermans, but now that self-propelled guns were legal, people were truly exploiting it to the best of their abilities.

"T-That's not going to happen to us will it?!" Saori asked frantically.

"I wouldn't like that," Mako puts it simply.

Miho took the radio, " _Dandelion and Jasmine! How are you guys doing there?_ "

" _Still struggling against these blasted yanks!_ " Kay screamed over the radio. " _Go! Go! Go!_ "

Miho looked down the center mountain roads with her binoculars. Saunders and Chi-Ha-Tan, also recognizing the artillery presence in the Americans, has moved as close as possible to the Shermans. They were only about 200 meters difference now. Close, but still vulnerable to the artillery.

" _This is Jasmine!_ " Anzu said. " _These M18's are real buggers! They've taken down Mallard!_ "

 _We're down by two tanks now…_ "We need someone to push through…" Miho said to herself. The best solution for a more easy playing field now would be to destroy the artillery area. Unfortunately, that would be far behind enemy lines, probably at their starting point. Pushing through west and center is out of the questions with the artillery and Shermans, but the east only had Hellcats so far, it would be easier to push through there than the other two. However, the Hellcats were playing tank destroyers and simply attacking whenever Jasmine's tanks came into sight.

" _Miho! This is Rabbit Team!_ " Miho heard Azusa's voice come through the radio from the M3 Lee alongside the Panzer IV.

"Yes?" Miho responded.

" _We and Duck are requesting for permission to support Jasmine team!_ " Azusa said.

Miho looked at the two tanks that made up her headquarters group of the team. "Right, you two aren't doing much here," She responded through the radio. "Move and support Jasmine in clearing the east side!"

" _Roger!_ " Azusa cried out. The engine of the two tanks roared as they sped down the mountain road towards the rear to go around to assist Jasmine.

"Jasmine team, Rabbit and Duck from HQ are going to join you from the rear. Beware for friendly fire please!" Miho said.

" _Roger that!_ " Anzu's voice came through.

"We won't get anywhere though until we can weaken their forces…" Miho said.

"Don't forget Miho!" Saori said, "We only need to take out their flag tank to win!"

"Right!" Miho responded. "But we haven't seen it yet…"

* * *

Kay was not having as much fun as she wanted. The Americans were doing things very different than how she interpreted just last year. Why would Daniel wanted this big of a change? Kay can't grasp the reasoning.

Kay then remembered what Miho said. How everyone called her a "legend". _Does that really warrant such a disproportionate firepower change?!_

As she thought that, a large screech can be heard from the air. Recognizing that dreadful noise, she got into her M4 Sherman and closed the hatch. "All tanks!" She cried to her radio. "We've got incoming artillery! Button up!"

The first round came in a blasted a few meters to Kay's side. Then came some more. "We've got to move! We're sitting ducks here!" Kay said to the team.

" _Move up! I'll cover!_ " Kay heard Satoko from Leopon Team call in. The Tiger Porsche at the back fired its 88 mm toward the enemy. When it showed up, some of the Jumbos tried to move to some cover in the rocks, still dreading the 88 mm cannon.

"Okay! Let's go driver!" Kay shouted as her Sherman moved. Artillery were now dropping in more readily. _It's only a matter of time before they sent in the heavy rain!_ Kay thought. Looking from her vision ports, she could see Alisa and Naomi's tanks were also on the move away from the impact sights of the artillery. Taking cover behind some rocks, or on the road side if there weren't any available, the tanks attempted to fire at the Jumbos downrange. Even now at a distance of 200 meters apart, not damage has been done to either side other than shell scrapes.

A stalemate, no one was going anywhere if they can't take each other out.

"Curses!" Kay beat herself up a bit. Maybe if she'd know, she'd bring a few more 76 mm. No, maybe even a 90 mm, but it's all too late now.

Suddenly, a large shell bursted to her side. The artillery had shifted position closer to their area now.

"Damnit!" Kay slammed onto the turret side, her gunner and loader looking at her concerned. "We've got to take out that artillery!"

* * *

Miho heard Kay's transmission. Unfortunately, so far without any way of knowing where the artillery are aside from the blast echos, they can't counter attack the artillery. Right now, she could only assume they are in the back near the starting place, the farthest away from the enemy. If that's the case, a breakthrough in one of the three regions was necessary to reach that area.

 _Not only that,_ Miho thought, _we don't even know where the other team's flag tank is._

If that was found, the problem would be much easier to solve. Where could they be?

" _HQ, this is Sunflower._ " Miho heard Darjeeling's voice in the radio. " _We've spotted the enemy flag tank_."

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Charge! For Nonna!" Rosehip cried out as the Cromwell platoon moved at full speed towards the Shermans waiting down range. The Shermans and Cromwells fired wildly at each other, the shots barely registering on the armor. Rosehip and her trained group knew what they were doing, hit them hard close-up.

The Sherman commanders, however, are in a state of panic. They have no idea why in the hell are these respectable tanks charging so close towards them. As they inched closer, the crew got a bit more nervous. Now they were only about 50 meters apart and the crews were about to have a breakdown. They just couldn't believe high school girls in tanks would be suicidally confident in an attack of pure insanity.

Rosehip's Cromwell platoon, consisting of only three tanks, got close enough to the tanks and swerved to their sides. In panic, the Shermans traverse their turrets to the sides to get to the pesky Cromwells.

Exposing the weaker side armor of the turret towards the main force, the tanks fired. 85 mm, 17-pounder rounds slammed into the sides of the two Jumbos on the right side of the platoon line. The second to the left suffered the blast of the KV-2 152 mm howitzer round, travelling in a very distinctive trajectory slow enough to see the shell travel all the way onto the side. The Jumbo blasted by this anti-concrete charge was blasted backwards from the explosions. The whole Jumbo was torn sideways, facing the right hull side towards the main Sunflower force, terrible exterior damage as the gun mantlet was shorn off its standard mounting. A white flag on the three hit Jumbos shot up for each one.

"That's right!" Katyusha cried out. "That's for everything we've been through!"

"Next!" Rosehip cried out as they moved on the rest of the American team on the west side.

Darjeeling's Black Prince was still crawling across the sandy terrain. The satisfaction of finally knocking out the enemy's tank came in, but she was focused with the tanks at a distance from where she was… Three Shermans were a distance away from the forces, one had a very distinctive shape hanging on its turret.

"HQ, this is Sunflower. We've spotted the enemy flag tank." Darjeeling reported to Miho.

" _On the west side? Hunt it down!_ " Miho came in.

"Roger," Darjeeling replied. Just as she was about to say an order to the crew, another explosion crashed next to the Black Prince.

"Rosehip," Darjeeling called to her rather impulsive Cromwell platoon. "The artillery shifted location, there must be forward observer nearby radioing our location. Locate and destroy them."

" _Roger!_ " Rosehip called in. " _Vanilla! Cranberry! With me!_ "

"All other units, continue forwards. Enemy flag tank is just ahead of us."

* * *

"Captain! Enemy tanks closing in our position!" Noah observed through his periscope.

"Bullshit! How'd they break through the Jumbos?!" Conner cried out.

"Calm down! All Mickies! Reverse!" Daniel shouted in his radio. The three Shermans of Mickey reversed. "Donald! Status report!"

" _This is Donald 5! All Jumbos been knocked out! It's just us normal ones now!_ "

"Damn," Daniel said rather nonchalantly. "Pull back, get some distance between them!"

" _Roger!_ "

"Driver! Continued backwards! Gunner! Watch that dune!"

* * *

 **South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"They're breaking through the west side, sarge!" CPL Henderson said to Isabelle.

She got up and took a binocular and looked at the distance. About 1,000 meters out, she could see the Shermans reversing away from the incoming threat.

"They're about to get into our line of sight…" She said. "Aimer, get ready!"

"Roger that Sarge!" Henderson said as he sighted in the gun.

"Everyone else, get ready!" Isabelle said. The rest of the crew on the piece disembarked the vehicle as the Henderson brought the gun to its view area. As he did that, Isabelle looked through the binoculars again. Judging from the way the Shermans are pointing their guns, the opposite team were just on the other side of that large dune in front of them. "Aimer, get it towards that hill."

"Roger!"

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Janne peered carefully out of the circular hatch of the KV-1. She was stuck inside the KV the whole time and she couldn't see a damn thing. She decided she'd rather get a bullet to the face than accidentally lead the tank into an ambush so she opened the hatch. "Matti, turn right."

There was always a delay between the order and the tank response. Janne could hear clanging and cursing inside the tank before the tank shifted towards the right, barely swerving away from a large rock formation.

She looked out for any concealed tank destroyers. According to the Ōarai commander, there were three more Hellcats on this side. Three was enough to make every turn point anxious, choke points were present all the way the passage south.

"Janne…" the commander heard her gunner cry out.

"Stay focused Petri…"

"That's like five corners already, my eyes are about to melt onto this optic here…"

"Stay focused… the moment we loosen up, the cats will strike."

"We should just wait for them to come to us," Aatami the loader said. "It'll be a lot easier for us."

"We don't even know if they'll move from their position Aatami…" Janne replied.

"I'd like the idea… of waiting!" Matti said as she struggled with the driving bars in the KV-1. "God damn!" She said as she took the hammer near by her and whacked the shift bar to the position she wanted it at.

"Relax, we'll get through this an-" A shell clashed onto the KV-1 turret's turret ring, creating a terrific noise as Janne briefly glimpsed the shell tracer bouncing off and hitting the rock formation to her right. "Petri! Left side! 9 o'clock! Matti! Left turn!"

"God damn it!"

The KV-1 turret traversed slowly even with the aid of the tank turning left. Janne could see the concealed Hellcat downrange. It had the desert foliage covering its hull and some at the roof area. It was backing up already. By the time the KV-1's gun got into alignment, the M18 had already retreated to cover.

"Mika! This is Janne!" She got onto the radio. "Spotted enemy! All the way to the right!"

" _Roger, sending reinforcements,_ " The commander of Continuation calmly replied.

"Need it now!" Janne requested urgently. She looked around for the M18. Surely it could out maneuver the KV-1 if it wanted to. The KV-1's armor was respectable, but not invulnerable to the 76 mm guns. "Petri! Aim at the left opening of the rock formation!"

"Roger!" Petri said as the turret traversed slowly. The M18 would surely pop out at another location other than its shooting area. It would give the KV a chance to at least acquire target.

Janne waited patiently for about a minute. Then the M18 came out… on the right side. "Gah! Petri! On the right!"

"Where?!" Petri couldn't see it. The M18 just inched forwards a bit and took aim. It fired, the 76 mm shot came in and hit the angled front hull. In a diagonal shape, the 76 mm shell simply ricocheted off to the right. As it prepares to back up, Petri got it in her sights. "On target!"

"Fire!" Janne called out. The 76 mm gun of the KV-1, not as powerful as the ones the American have at the moment, but still powerful enough to destroy a M18. It grazed the lower front glacis of the M18, but the round broke the left tracks of the M18, which began to rotate as it was backing up with its remaining track set. The commander on the M18 was crying frantically as the M18 turret traversed towards the KV again. "Aatami! Load faster!"

"I'm trying! Gu- where's that shell!" Aatami frantically searches within the KV-1 hull for a suitable shell. Finally firmly gripping one, she takes it up and loads it into the gun. "Up!"

"Fire again Petri!"

"Firing!"

Petri fired the gun, but the M18 fired as well. The two shells passed each other and struck their respective targets. The KV was hit first due to the high-velocity nature of the American 76 mm, but the damage was done on both sides. The KV was hit right in the turret ring, no grazing this time. The M18 was a dead tank either way it was hit. Both shot up a white flag signaling a knock out.

"Damn it," Janne said softly to herself.

"Sorry…" Aatami apologized to her crew. "If I loaded faster, things may have been different..."

"It's okay," Janne said, "Now it's up for them to finish this."

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Sunflower is breaking through!" Saori reported enthusiastically to Miho.

"Really?!" Miho was surprised. She'd expect the west side to be even more contested with artillery and America's forces there. She didn't think a simple change of offensive was enough to gain good ground in the desert terrain.

"And Jasmine got another Hellcat! Only two more to go!"

"That's great!"

"Should we start pushing up from here?" Yukari asked Miho.

"No, it'd be different here. There's only one direction through and we'd have to close in to the enemy tanks to get to their side armor." Miho explained. "If we could use those mountain roads, that'd be great…"

"But those Shermans are blocking them…" Yukari finished.

"Why don't we go on the offensive?" Hana stated.

"Hmm…" Miho thought about it. The commander's tank in attack mode of course means another tank in play, but there's a risk that she'd be knocked out, causing them to outright lose the match…

But the American cadets seemed to have put their flag tank into play, as Sunflower encountered them. Miho looked out and see the Shermans at the distance from where she was. The ones on the mountain roads were fighting Chi-Ha-Tan. Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks were in no condition for an upfront confrontation with the Shermans, their best caliber being the 47 mm, and that requires a side shot to work. However, those M4A3 Shermans would be easy prey to the Panzer IV's 75 mm KwK 40 cannon…

"Okay, let's go!" Miho said. "We're going to go support Chi-Ha-Tan!"

"Okay," Mako replied as she started towards the gear shift to reverse.

"Dandelion! This is HQ! We're moving up from behind!"

" _Roger!_ " Kay and Nishi was heard.

Mako pulled a lever and the Panzer IV suddenly was moving along the western mountain road.

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Push forwards! Not one step back!" Katyusha roared from inside her T-34-85. The Sunflower forces were now on the offensive again!

Six Shermans laid in front of them, one was the flag tank. Victory was in their hands!

"Ms. Katyusha!" Klara called out to her. "We should circle around and see if we can get them from the sides!"

"Right!" Katyusha said. "Darjeeling, we'll take the detour route to their weak points!"

" _Understood_ ," Darjeeling came in through the radio. " _Prioritize the flag tank._ "

"Right! KV-tan! Klara! With me! Let's go!" Katyusha pointed out the direction as the driver made the turn. As the Black Prince, Churchill crossed over the top, the rest of Pravda went around the dune to hit the Shermans at their sides. Moments later, they cleared the dunes.

The two T-34-85s and the KV-2 showed themselves at the Sherman's 10 o'clock location. Katyusha scanned the targets. _Flag tank's most likely in the rear!_ She looked at the rear most Shermans for the flag sticking out.

Katyusha found it. It was still reversing at the rear, right in the middle of the tank line of three. She grinned. They hadn't realize they were there yet. "KV! Finish this round!"

" _Yes!_ " The crew inside the KV replied. To Katyusha's left, the KV-2's turret oriented slowly towards the Sherman Katyusha had pointed out. They also could see the flag. They were about to win! Right after getting one of their first kills ever in a match, they were going to deliver the winning shot!

Katyusha waited eagerly for the large howitzer to unload its payload onto the poor unfortunate Sherman. "Hah! We win!"

A most ear-screeching noise followed on Katyusha's left side while it was simultaneously brightened by a large ball of light. Katyusha only saw a glimpse of it, the tracer as it came in. The next thing Katyusha saw was KV-tan flying backwards. The force of the shell impacting the poor, poor KV-2 had sent the 50 ton tank not only throttling backwards, but had taken it off the ground, sending it a few inches in the air before landing again on the ground with a most sickening crash. The KV-2 landed tilted, and moments later the KV-2's tall structure sent it hurtling to the ground, digging the turret into the ground.

A feeble white flag came out of the side hull.

"B- B- wha-?" Katyusha was at a loss. _What?!_

With what little hearing she had left, she heard the piercing echo of the sound report from the piece that had done the kill shot.

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

As the Panzer IV headed down the mountain road, Miho heard the blast.

"What was that?" A concerned Saori asked. Even with her radio headset, she could hear that monstrous sound.

"Sounds like trouble," Mako simply said.

"Double?" Hana said. "This sounds worse than that artillery barrage."

But Yukari was going through a phase. Not of concern or despair, but of a glee phase. "Oh man! They actually have that?!"

Miho looked at the horizon dreadfully. "Things just gets worse and worse huh?"

* * *

Kay heard the blast through. Amidst all the firing against the cadets down range, the blast stuck out even louder than the artillery raining now.

"What the hell?" Her response was.

" _Kay…_ " Naomi radioed in.

"Y-Yeah?" Kay replied.

" _That sound signature… that's a big gun they have._ "

" _Too big!_ " Alisa came in as well.

Kay could still hear the sound echoing. Compared to the 105 mm artillery that was dropping down, this was something completely different. Kay narrowed down the few vehicles that would now by Tankery-legal that the Americans could have even remotely think of taking along with them. She came to one of them, well several, but her response was all the same.

"Oh you gotta be fucking with me…"

* * *

 **South side of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The fired gun was spewing out the rest of the smoke still left inside the barrel. The smoke came out like steam, slowly and steadily rising as though a flow of water.

Sergeant Isabelle didn't take the time to enjoy such small thing, the crew got to work the moment the cannon recoiled. The cannon had a massive recoil, coming back three feet from its initial position, but even before it returned to its ready position, the breech operator got to work. First opening up the cannon's breech as two crew members got an over-sized cleaning rod to ram into the cannon, cleaning out the residual of the powder charge and other waste inside. A few swipes in and out and then the operator closed the main breech, but leaving the breech plug of the Asbury mechanism open for the rounds.

While the two were cleaning, two more were grabbing a round from the rather small storage space inside the self-propelled gun. An APBC M112 round, weighing 100 pounds for the shell alone, was rolled out to the edge of the crew platform for the loading process. When the breech operator closed the main breech, three crew members worked together to get the heavy round inside the loading chamber, with one more holding a ramming rod to tuck the round inside the 155 mm chamber.

With the round seated, the last remaining crew member grabbing the powder charges and lobbing it into the chamber. Supercharge, no reserves on armor-piercing capabilities. Once the charges were in, the breech operator seals it, and the 155 mm "Long Tom" was good to go.

Isabelle was still inspecting the targets downrange the west side. The KV-2's impressive 152 mm howitzer made it a formidable target, but no one, no one, ups the Americans when it comes to boasting about big guns. The 155 mm dwarves the KV-2's firepower in caliber already by 3 mm, almost as if done purely out of spite. While the KV-2's standard anti-concrete round fires with an energy of 5,618 kilojoules, the "Long Tom" fires their standard APHE round with an energy of 15,888 kilojoules.

Because nothing say "fuck you" like a concrete buster gun capable of supercharge loads.

It was a hassle to get the vehicle. The 155 mm Gun Motor Carriage M40 was a one-of-a-kind vehicle in the Tankery business. The vehicle was not a tankery-legal vehicle until recently, so it's existent was improvised by the cadets working alongside the repair team. Taking a surplus M4A3E8, they've cut it up to the chassis and built it up into the assault gun. All it took then was the approval by the International League to get the vehicle into the field. A small debate started between the cadets on its role of use. An artillery weapon or anti-tank? With the acquirement of six M7 Priests, they settled on an anti-tank role to protect the rest of Minnie company. Overkill, yes, but a deterrent. Only the insane would not recognize the deadliness of the 155 mm field gun.

During the loading process, CPL Henderson had to raise the gun to allow the breech to be low enough to reasonably carry the rounds up and into the breech. This required the gun to readjust every shot, but in a direct fire role, accuracy was much better than the indirect role.

"Gun sighted!" Henderson yelled as he was viewing through the telescopic scope aligned with the gun. Isabelle looked down the desert and saw the potential targets. At this distance, the 1 kilometer distant targets were small, but the range was good for the 155 mm. She could see a vehicle traveling over the dune and in a clear line of sight to the gun.

"Alright, target acquired aimer?!"

"Target acquired!"

"Brace!" Isabelle warned the crew. Everyone got ready for the shock of the firing process, Henderson especially as the poor bastard was right next to the damn thing.

"Fire!"

Every particle and living thing around the vehicle was shaken about as the gun fired.

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Chaos returned to the radio feed in the Panzer IV. Now the report was coming in the Sunflower was being pushed back! They lost two tanks as well, their KV-2 and now the Churchill . The Shermans were also committing a counter-attack and would've gotten Katyusha had she not been pulling back.

Miho tried to make sense of this mess. The Americans were remaking their fame from World War II. She couldn't say much, what else other than "fight your best!"? She lacks the decision making factor as things were getting more derailed than even the University match.

"Miho…" Hana said.

"Huh? Yeah?" Miho came to attention.

"Sometimes it is best to focus at one things at a time," Hana gave Miho some advice. "If you look at the whole thing at once, you might get a big picture, but you won't get the puzzle piece that fits where it needs to go."

Miho looked at Hana, analyzing the words she meant. She nodded in acknowledgment, "Okay!" Mustering some will, she thought about her own region. The M4A3 were still pummeling Chi-Ha-Tan, the center road was busy with the Jumbos. The Panzer IV was headed towards this mess.

"Hana, do you think you can get those Shermans from here?" Miho asked.

"The angle… Yes! I think this is good!"

"Okay! Mako halt!" Miho said and then the Panzer IV came to a halt.

The distance was roughly 1,200 meters from where the Panzer IV was and the Shermans were. There were three regular M4A3 Shermans with 76 and 75 mm cannons along with one Chaffee. The group was divided into groups of two on both side of the mountains. Chi-Ha-Tan was down to three tanks, Nishi's Type 97 Chi-Ha, a Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha, and the Type 95 Ha-Go. Hana took her time to sight her gun, cautious to not hit any of Chi-Ha-Tan's tanks.

"Firing!" Hana finally said. For the first time in the match, the Panzer IV's 75 mm fired, its gun ringing true to its power. Miho could see the tracer go in a parabolic trajectory towards its intended target.

The M24 Chaffee.

"Huh? Why that one?" Saori questioned the target choice.

"It must be a forward observer!" Yukari explained.

"Huh? What's that?" Saori asked.

"It's a role where they transmit information to the back for intel. They must be the one that are directing the artillery, that's why the light tank is so far up."

"Oh I see! So that's why the artillery on Saunders changed to where they keep moving!"

"And now that it's gone, the artillery is either going to get less accurate or just stop." Yukari stated.

"Kay, this is Miho. We've knocked out what I believe is an enemy spotter. The artillery should be lightening up for you now."

" _Roger! Thanks for the assist!_ " Kay replied.

"Okay Hana!" Miho said, "let's take care of a few more of those tanks!"

"Roger!"

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Prez!" Azusa said as the M3 Lee reached the rest of Jasmine team.

"Hey!" Anzu greeted Rabbit and Duck.

"What's the situation with the Hellcats?!" Asked Noriko as she leaned on the side of the Type 89's cupola.

"There's two more Hellcats out there!" Anzu pointed with a knife hand. "We lost two tanks now, one in repairs, and we need to pin-point them out! None of our tanks are good enough for a quick response attack on the Hellcats."

Jasmine consisted of six vehicles before Rabbit and Duck got to them. Of the six, three were fixed assault guns and one was a tankette. It was too risky to recklessly march forward finding those two Hellcats without acceptable losses.

"Let's go then!" Azusa said.

"They might be in carefully concealed location, keep an eye out! I'll get the rest to support you!" Anzu said as Rabbit team sped away, Duck team following them.

"How are we going to do this Azusa?" Aya said from inside the turret.

"Don't worry, we've got this!" Azusa reassured. "I've got a plan." She said while gesturing to the Type 89. "Think you lots can handle it?" She shouted towards them.

Noriko gave Azusa a good thumbs up before the Type 89 picked up speed and bypassed the M3. Azusa looked around for the remains of Jasmine group. She could see Anchovy's P40 getting desperately fixed up on the field, Carpaccio's Semovente waiting nearby to cover the repair process along with Pepperoni's L3/33 tankette as a scout. _So I guess Anzio is temporarily out of the picture_ , Azusa thought.

Some ways through, she found Anteater and Hippo team waiting idly, pointing their guns downrange. "Hey!" Azusa called out.

The crew commander stuck their head out of the hatches. "Aren't you suppose to be with Miho?" Caesar asked Rabbit.

"Miho should've said we were coming almost 10 minutes ago!"

"What?!" Caesar sounded surprised. "Hey Erwin! How's that radio!?"

"Must be busted! Never got a transmission!" Erwin could be heard inside.

"Oh..." Nekonya meekly replied. "That must be why it was so inactive despite all the noise..."

 _Out of range?_ Azusa thought when she saw this. "Anyways, we're here to help fix your, um, cat problems."

"Cats are cute!" Karina screamed inside the M3 Lee.

"Isn't there one more tank around here?" Azusa asked. "Where's Continuation?"

"Not sure," Caesar replied. "Looks like we've been out of the loop. How's the situation?"

"Could've been better. The Americans got fricken' artillery."

"Really? Nuts!"

"Artillery is the king of the battlefield," Erwin quoted.

"Well anyways! It's important we help you guys break through. So far we've confirmed that only the hellcats are here. If we can break through here, we can get behind the enemy and maybe even destroy the artillery!" Azusa stated Jasmine's situation.

"That sounds crazy..." Nekonya said.

"Almost suicidal!" Momoga said poking her head out. "I'm in! Where to?!"

"Sounds like a fine plan either way," Caesar reassured. "How we going to get those Hellcats out of hiding?"

"Like how you get any cat out of their hiding zone," Azusa said pointing to the Type 89. "With bait."

* * *

 **I mean, I didn't lie. I said no updates NEXT week.**

 **Fun for you and fun for me right? Let's just say I wrote it in between my study times as breaks. It was getting exciting and I couldn't keep the words pent up so I wrote and wrote.**

 **But man, managing three situations at once is hard! Imagine Miho now. Actually, imagine any commander who has to take control of a large area and manage it. It's tough to remember that you've got a unit here and there. I missed out on Jasmine, Rabbit, Duck, and Leopon that I wanted to put some details here to remind myself that they are still in play.**

 **Now I'm really going to be studying. Nothing from me at all next week! I'm gonna knock these finals down like a boss!**

 **Thanks for all the support! If you like what you read, don't be afraid to tell others about it! Follow and Favorite if you want to see what Ōarai Compound Team has in mind next! The battle finale is almost here!**


	11. Wrecked!

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 11: Wrecked!**

 **Carius Academy - Germany**

"Heh, take a look at this Hans," Kraus said in his native language as sat in the lounging area of his Carius Academy Tankery head office, sipping coffee while watching the television set..

"She's as unpredictable as they say, huh?" Wittman replied in German as well, sitting alongside Kraus as he slowly twirled his personal League-approved sidearm in his right hand, circling it around as he balanced the piece's weight distribution with the flow.

"Hmm... yes, perhaps it was a good idea to take a look at her matches."

"I wouldn't want to fight her blindly," Wittman said. "If we can't predict her movements, the old doctrine wouldn't work at all."

"And that is why you drafted the new one," Kraus said. "But, you didn't do it specifically for this fight against Miho Nishizumi, did you?"

Wittman puts away his sidearm, a Single Action Army, back into his right belt holster. "Most countries have two doctrines of armored warfare, shaped by experiences and logistics. Most of these secondary doctrines had faded away in history once certain types became mainstream, but those that remember them are still around," Wittman said, engrossed into the conversation.

"Working for the contribution of Carius Academy? How noble of you." Kraus praised Wittman, though he did not react to these words.

"Always want to be flexible for scenarios like this," Wittman said. "Ms. Nishizumi is an unknown factor to this exhibition, so everyone's trying something to counter it now. Like America, it seemed your old friend Marshall is trying out the old, repressed artillery-focused armored warfare."

"It never did catch on," Kraus said. "Too immobile, allowed forces such as ours to easily gain the advantage by denying the artillery a chance to engage properly. That's why the U.S. had always focused on the old 'Iron Side' doctrine of the armored divisions of World War II. Then again, the old doctrine never called for usage of a siege gun like that Long Tom."

"Yes," Wittman said. "It was a surprise what the Americans brought up with the brief time the new rules were set up."

"Well Wittman," Kraus said. "Perhaps Miss 'Legend' here might make an impression this World Tournament, but its a shame you won't have to use your doctrine on her."

"Why's that?" Wittmann asked.

"Because she's not going to make it this far." Kraus insisted, "There's no way she'll be able to touch anywhere near the prestigious Carius Academy. If the Russians have a hard time themselves with us, certainly she has nothing close to our caliber in that department."

He got up from the sofa, "Ms. Nishizumi and her little band of… misfits. They'll be only a small blip to the impact of this world. Carius Academy will continue to prosper beyond her, and will continue to do so since its inception!"

"And if she… does make it this far?" Wittmann inquired once more.

Kraus glanced at Wittmann again, "Do not jest with such things Wittmann, we should concentrate our efforts against those Russians. They'll be more than enough a contest to deal with."

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant," Wittman replied, right before he looked outside the window towards the harbor.

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

SGT Maurice Montana's platoon, or what's left of it, was not in a good position. With only two hellcats left in his side, his firepower is greatly diminished if the Japanese decided to strike head-on.

No reinforcements were coming either, everyone was too preoccupied with the other sectors. Two Hellcats covering against a large tank group. All they had was cover and stealth to use against the enemy. So there they were, hiding in the foliages, waiting for an unfortunate prey to show up.

So how bad could it be that a Japanese tank just shows up out of the blue zooming past their sector with no regards to their surrounding?

The Type 89 came out of nowhere, zooming past Maruice's Hellcat. He was startled by the sudden appearance and the cloud of dust following as it zoomed past. Coughing his lungs out of the dust, he ordered, "Gunner! Tank! 10 o'clock from turret front!"

"Roger!" The gunner screamed out. The M18 turned its turret towards the Type 89's movement, on its way towards some rocks. But then Maurice made out another engine noise, he looked back in front of the tank destroyer and saw another tank, a classic M3 Lee showed up.

"Oh shit! Another tank!" Maurice warned the crew.

"What? Where?!" The gunner broke his traversing to the new predicament.

The M3 Lee slowed down and Maurice could see the turret on top turning, a girl looking out of the cupola. She looked towards their direction. Soon she looked as if she was shouting in her tank. The small turret on the M3 Lee was now turning…

"Gunner! Prioritize that M3!" Maurice had to yell again. The gunner was now absolutely perplexed about this. Aim at this? Or aim at that?! Had he had the time, it would be easily to sort out, but the M3 Lee's presence caused a small panic status. Maurice then heard another engine, behind them. He looked back and saw a StuG III that managed to sneak up on them.

"Clever girls…"

* * *

Two simultaneous shots by a 37 mm by Rabbit in the front and a whopping 75 on the rear by Hippo rocked the M18 violently. Caesar watched the crew commander in his cupola ring get knocked around with the two impacts. When it became still again, a white flag rose from the hull. Caesar had the StuG III pull up next to the downed M18.

"You alright?" Caesar asked the dazed American commander.

"Errgh…" the commander shrugged off the impact, "Yeah, thanks…"

"Alright, if you don't mind, we're going to get your other hellcat," Caesar said bluntly.

"Yeah sure, go, I can't do a damn thing to stop you now anyways." He said as he concedes defeat.

"Okay, well, you take care!" Caesar said as the StuG III picked up momentum past the Hellcat. "Weird guy."

Hippo team's StuG III met back up with Rabbit team's M3 Lee, Caesar giving Azusa a thumbs up as they passed each other. The tanks moved along, looking for the last concealed Hellcat in their area.

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Rosehip's Cromwell platoon found the M24 Chaffee ordering the artillery in hiding all the way near the mountain center. It's camouflage made it blend in the surrounding very nicely from a distance, but when it saw Rosehip's Cromwells coming, they started moving, exposing themselves to the 75 mm fire on the Cromwells. The short chase ended with the M24 Chaffee crashing after taking a shot to the engine by a Cromwell 75 mm, but Cranberry's Cromwell was knocked out by a shot from the Chaffee.

"Ms. Darjeeling!" Rosehip radioed in. "We've managed to subdue the enemy light tank! That artillery should be less coordinated now!"

" _That's good Rosehip,_ " Darjeeling replied, _"But I do not think it will change our situation by much._ "

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rosehip asked.

" _We are being besieged by a large caliber field gun quite a distance from us. It is powerful enough to eliminate the rest of the heavy tanks but me._ "

"What can I do about that Ms. Darjeeling?!" Rosehip requested for orders.

" _Rosehip…_ " Darjeeling said, " _Are you prepared to run wild?_ "

"Huh?"

" _You may remove the engine governors,"_ Darjeeling stated.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Rosehip said, showing restraint, "why would I need that much power?"

" _Harass the artillery group behind enemy lines. You'll need your speed to by pass the Shermans in front and avoid being hit by those guns._ "

Rosehip thought about this tall order. It was almost a suicide mission, but if it works… "Roger that Ms. Darjeeling!" Rosehip replied over the radio, "Out!"

She then turned to her crew, "All right girls! The kid's gloves are off!"

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Anglerfish fires another shot, taking out another M4 Sherman on the mountain road on the west side. The remaining two Shermans on the east mountain road reprioritize their threat and the turret swayed toward the distance. Nishi saw this and decided that now was Chi-Ha-Tan's chance to take the initiative.

"All tanks!" Nishi said on her radio. "Push up closer to those Shermans! Go! Go! Go!"

The two Type 97's and the lone 95's moved out of their areas and were pushing forwards to where the Shermans were covering. Firing their cannons, the tanks forced the Shermans to take notice of the approaching Japanese tanks.

"Fire!" Nishi yelled and the 57 mm cannon on her Type 97 fired. The 57 mm cannon had no chance at penetrating the Sherman anywhere except point blank at its side, but that wasn't the point of the attack. The Shermans now diverted to the threats in front of them. The guns laid on them a moment as they figure out if these tanks were as suicidal as their World War II counterparts. The distraction was all it needed to keep the Shermans from comfortably targeting Anglerfish's tank.

The second Sherman, across the mountain away from Nishi, was not as deterred. It smashed the Type 97 in the same road as it with a 75 mm shell straight at the front. Once done, it traversed the turret towards Nishi's direction.

"Gunner! Fire at that tank!" Nishi cried out. The 57 mm fired and bounced off the side armor of the Sherman across the mountain. The Sherman simply aimed and fired a round at Nishi's Type 97.

Nishi had her tank crash about as the round impacted the armor. When the shaking and swirling stop and the Type 97 came to a complete halt, her tank was done. Looking again at the Sherman, she noted it was smoking as well, a white flag on the turret.

She smiled. "It's all up to you now Miho."

* * *

" _Side lines broken through! We need to push!"_ Kay heard Alisa through the comms.

"Alright! We're back in business!" Kay shouted gleefully. Finally, Dandelion is making some grounds. "Alisa! Naomi! Let's go!"

" _Roger!_ " Their replies were as the Sherman trio began advancing. Their front hull were angled a bit to the side to avoid bounce any rounds coming at them, so they moved up the center area in a zig-zag pattern. The Jumbos fired back.

Naomi gets to the side and aims the 17-pounder in her Firefly. Scanning the four Jumbos there, she spotted one with a 76 mm cannon instead of the 75. She aimed specifically at the gun mantlet of that Jumbo. The mantlet presented a shot trap similar to that of Panthers, a small piece folding inwards that had a ricochet angle straight into the hull roof. Naomi spotted it with the optics of her 17-pounder, hand steadily on the trigger.

A shot came and rocked the Sherman Firefly. Naomi was knocked back a bit, but refocused her sights on the Jumbo as she jolts back into firing position. She fired the 17-pounder, the crack of the cannon recoiled back the tiny turret meant to hold the 75 mm gun, the tank rocked as it fired. Naomi witnessed the round hitting straight where she wanted and saw the tracer take a quick trip downwards after the impact. The Jumbo shuddered as it was affected, before a white flag came up signaling a clean kill.

Naomi breathe out her tension.

"C-Commander!" The driver of the Firefly said.

"What?" Naomi replied.

"T-The track's broke!"

 _It must've been from that Sherman shot earlier…_ Naomi thought. She contemplated on leaving the tank to fix it, but the machine gun bullets ricocheting off the front hull made her think otherwise.

"Kay, the Firefly's immobilized, you're going to have to go forwards on your own," Naomi said into the radio.

" _Roger! See if you can support us from the rear!_ " Kay replied.

Firing and explosion continued to rage outside the Firefly as Naomi tried to service the next target from their position.

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Six tanks against three is rather unfair to Katyusha.

" _All's fair in love and war,"_ Darjeeling said when Katyusha ranted about that.

"Damnit Darjeeling! Now isn't the time!" Katyusha cried out into her radio. The three tanks, two T-34-85s and the Black Prince, were isolated in the desert from the six tanks that were approaching. One of them was the flag tank, sure, but on the other side of the dune was also that scary cannon. It won't do them any good if another tank was knocked out.

Now, the remaining Shermans were approaching them, slowly inching up, popping up and firing, then retreating once the remnants of Sunflower pinpointed where it came from. To make matters worse, artillery was raining down still. Not accurately, but it was getting closer and closer as the opposing Shermans were getting braver and braver.

"Grrr, We're going to need some extra help here!" Katyusha yelled out.

* * *

Rosehip's and Vanilla's Cromwells were practically zipping across the West desert terrain. The new meteor engine of the Cromwells was superior to the Nuffield Liberty engines of her older Crusader cruiser tanks. The Liberty engine only pumped out 340 horsepower, giving the Crusader a horsepower-to-ton ratio of 17 hp/ton. The meteor engine gave out an impressive 600 horsepower, giving the heavier Cromwell a more impressive power ratio of 21 hp/ton. The Cromwell, deemed one of Britain's fastest World War II tanks, zoomed across the desert towards the South. Rosehip had a target in mind, and she would damage it even if it would end with her and her comrade's Cromwell beaten.

In a distance, she could see it. Six low vehicles with guns pointing towards the sky. They looked like miniature Karl-Gerät artillery vehicles. Very small miniatures.

"Ready to wreck havoc Vanilla?!" Rosehip radioed in her fellow tanker.

" _Right Rosehip!_ " Vanilla called in.

"Forwards!" Rosehip ordered. The two Cromwells up against six surprised artillery vehicles. Rosehip could see the boys and girls crewing the vehicles started reacting. Coming up closer, she recognized the vehicles as M7's, though she first thought they were Sextons.

Suddenly, a large tracer shot to Rosehip's right. A fantastic crash of an impact sounded as Rosehip turned her head. She could see Vanilla's Cromwell spin like a top as the round impacted the tank at an angle. The tracks tore from the suspension as the friction with the sand ripped them apart. A familiar echo roared from Rosehip's front as she saw this.

Rosehip didn't bother to check if a white flag came up or not, she continued the charge, only to see the M7 have started orienting their guns towards her direction.

"Fire! Take at least one!" Rosehip shouted to her gunner. The gunner fired the 75 mm cannon on the Cromwell. Watching the shell miss, the gunner switched over to the Cromwell's Besa machine gun, firing towards the vehicles as the loaders took up the next shell. The exposed crew of the M7 Priests all ducked when they saw the machine gun firing. "C'mon! Get one!" Rosehip cried out, "Everyone's counting on us!"

Then a large shock wave hit her Cromwell's front.

* * *

Darjeeling heard the sound report of the 155 mm. "Katyusha, now would be our chance while they reload," She said over the radio.

" _Roger that!_ " Katyusha said, acknowledging the sound as well. " _Klara, let's go!_ "

" _Roger!_ "

The two T-34-85's rushed the M4 Shermans on the right side of the dune they were hiding behind. After their constant pestering of the trio, the Shermans didn't expect the two T-34-85's to all of a sudden pop out and blow a Sherman away.

Darjeeling made her move on the left, slowly moving the Black Prince around. The M4A3E8 popping out suddenly saw the Black Prince and pulled back quickly. Darjeeling's tank could only crawl out as the Shermans took aim. Shots could be felt on the bottom of her tank, the Shermans attempting to fire at the belly armor when it crested the ridge, but to no avail as the Black Prince made it and fired at the Shermans.

It was an all-or-nothing attack. The 155 mm reloads take roughly a minute. The Black Prince took almost that long to get across the dune into another depression, hopefully out of that gun's sights.

" _This is Rosehip!_ " Darjeeling heard her over-excited junior say, " _We're done for!_ _Negligible damage on the enemy!_ "

"You did enough," Darjeeling responded calmly. The fired gun allowed the remnants of Sunflower to conduct a limited counterattack. _Miho, you better think of something quick._

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Nekoya was helping Rabbit and Hippo look for the last remaining Hellcat. Turtle and the rest of Anzio have finally caught up behind the trio. Continuation's BT-42, however, could not be found anywhere they went. A worrisome problem.

" _Anteater! Do you see anything yet?_ " Hippo called out to Anteater.

"No… It's hard to see anything around here. Looks like a bunch of sand and cactuses…" Nekoya responded.

"Maybe it's got a high camo index?" Momonga replied.

"It's not a video game…" Piyotan said as she continued to scan the terrain through her gun's sights.

"Hmm…" Nekoya said, briefly adjusting her glasses and looked out her cupola's vision ports. "Maybe stealth camouflage?"

"That doesn't exist yet!"

As Piyotan said this, a shot was sounded at a distance. Nekoya looked forward and saw Duck Team's Type 89 scrambling back to their position. Machine gun bullet tracers were streaking behind them.

" _They're over there!_ " Rabbit team cried out as Nekoya saw the M3 Lee's turret on top angled towards the other corner of the rock formation the Type 89 came from. " _Hippo, Turtle! Go around and see if you can take them from behind! We'll try to keep their attention here!_ "

" _Got it!_ " Erwin said.

" _Roger!_ " Anzu replied.

" _Anteater! Duck! Follow me!_ "

"Roger," Nekoya replied. The StuG III drove off towards the right area while Rabbit went left. Anteater's Type 3 followed them with the Duck's Type 89 right behind them.

As they follow down a path, a shot was heard from the other side of the rocks they were behind. A crash was heard and the crackling of metal followed. A series of gun fire continued on the other side, something Nekoya couldn't see. As Rabbit team cleared the corner of their cover, the M3 Lee fired its 37 towards the right. After the firing, the M3 Lee dashed across the open area towards the next cover.

Anteater edged their Type 3 out a bit and a shell impacted the rock nearby, sending rock shrapnels around the tank. Nekoya tried to see where the Hellcat was, but the vision ports didn't give her adequate vision.

" _This is Turtle,_ " the student council president was heard, " _Hippo and I were knocked out by that Hellcat…_ _Sorry!_ " Anzu finished.

"So it's us three against a tank destroyer…" Nekoya mentioned.

" _Don't be reckless!_ " Azusa cried out. _"Let's try to bait it out!_ "

" _Alright, let's go!_ " Noriko shouted out. The Type 89's engine revved up.

"Huh?" Nekoya looked and saw the Type 89 suddenly run out into the area the M18 is suspected to be in.

" _No! That's not what I meant!_ " Azusa frantically shouted.

" _Too late!_ " Noriko replied. As she did, a shell fired, barely missing the Type 89 as it zipped by. As machine gun fire followed, aimed towards the Type 89, Anteater took this chance and poked out the tank more into the open looking for the source of fire.

"I see it!" Nekoya shouted to her crew. "Our 2 o'clock, Piyotan! In that bush!"

"Got it!" Piyotan said as she engaged the power traverse to the right. She pointed the gun towards an unusual clump of foliage next to a large rock formation. The object spewed up dust as it began moving away from the line of sight. "Firing!"

The 75 mm of the Type 3 fired out. Impacting squarely onto a rock formation next to the M18. It retreated safely for a moment, but then popped out, gun facing Anteater.

"Oh no!" Nekonya reacted as she saw the vehicle, but then a shot hit the the rear of the M18. A large cloud of smoke puffed with the small explosion, the commander and crew of the M18 jolted around their open crew compartment. The M18 was pushed forwards and slightly to the right with the force before coming to a halt with a white flag sticking up.

Behind the downed M18, Nekonya sees a familiar white colored tank.

" _Mika!_ " Azusa shouted out in her radio when she saw the missing tank. " _Where have you been?!"_

" _I lost the way._ "

Rabbit team paused before sending a radio transmission. " _HQ, this is Rabbit. All targets on the east are taken out!_ " Azusa said.

" _Roger that! Continue the advance!_ " Miho replied.

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"What do you mean Pete Company has been decimated?!" Daniel said into his radio.

" _We're losing tanks on all grounds commander,_ " Isabelle said through the radio. _"All we've got now are two in Donald and three in Chip. Minnie and Mickey are the only ones without losses, but one of my units suffered some injuries._ "

"Damn it!" Daniel said, hammering fist down on the turret side. Ethan looked back at his commander.

 _He's usually not this fired up…_ Ethan thought on Daniel's attitude now. _Normally, he'd take this thing cooly…_

Daniel sighed. "All units, fall back and consolidate positions with Minnie. We have to hold them back."

" _Roger that!_ " The replies came in.

"Hill, reverse!"

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"They're falling back!" Alisa cried out in her radio to Kay.

" _Excellent! Don't let them rest! Go!_ " Kay ordered. A retreating defender is in a more open state than an immobile one.

"Alright! Driver! Go forwards!" Alisa ordered as her M4A1 (76) W moved forwards. There were only two Shermans on the ground now with Naomi's Firefly in repairs, but the Panzer IV on the mountain road would help put pressure against the three Jumbos ahead. There was also one more Type 97 up top, but there wasn't much they could do.

The Jumbos were still reversing slowly. The Panzer IV was a distance behind along with the Tiger (P). The two Saunder Shermans were in the forefront of the combat zone in the center area. Until the rest of Dandelion catches up, they have to put pressure onto the enemy!

"Go!" Alisa said as 75 mm cannon fire came towards them. The Jumbos couldn't afford any tanks flanking them now. As Alisa and Kay tried going past the position they once held.

That was when they became consumed by the artillery fire.

* * *

 **South Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Final Protective Fire" was ordered moments ago by Chip. The two M7 Priest group in Minnie were busy at work unloading the payloads onto the designated grid zone. _The situation must be deteriorating for us if they can send tanks as far enough to get us_ … Benningham thought about the Cromwells that approached earlier. One was taken out courtesy of a 155 mm cannon, the other was taken out with a HEAT round from one of the 105 mm carriages. It was a HEAT round in name only though, it was schematically an AP round with a "HEAT" label on it for Tankery purposes, safety purposes.

Benningham winced in pain as he gripped his right shoulder. Some of the crew in Benningham's group were injured when that Cromwell group of the opposing team started firing their machine guns. The rubber bullets riddled some of the exposed crew, even Benningham, but he only took one to the shoulder while some got four or five shots to their torso. Though lowering the vehicle's overall efficiency, the Priest continued pumping out shells to their target. All six delivered all they could onto one location.

The west was still under constant bombardment by the M40 carriage. What worried Benningham was what happened on the east with Pete destroyed. He wanted to order the other group to focus their guns there against incoming tanks, but they had orders and it must be carried out.

"Keep it up! We have to cover their retreat!" Benningham shouted to his crew. Fire after fire, the 105 didn't let up. He wouldn't stop it until he got the order to cease.

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Poor Saunders…" Saori said as she looked down the center road. The mass of artillery barrage at the one area Saunders were in didn't leave them in good shape. Both Shermans were white-flagged and heavily damaged.

With nothing now in their front to shoot at, the Jumbos had focused on the tanks on the mountain road. Miho's Panzer IV took cover as the 75 mm fire on them concentrated. The Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha on the other side was not taken into consideration at all, which the commander found insulting.

"Both teams are heavily damaged Nishizumi-dono," Yukari said. "This might be the decisive moment!"

"Right!" Miho agreed. It was now 13 to 14, rounding it down that is.

Then the 155 mm cannon fired again, noticeably by the echo it made down the mountain range. At first, Miho thought the shell may have been heading down to the Tiger Porsche, but noted that if it did, the Tiger would've been knocked out before she heard the sound.

" _Black Prince is down!_ " Katyusha radioed in.

 _12 to 14 now…_ Miho corrected.

"Hey Miho," Hana called.

"What?"

"There are lots of open spaces looking at the western side from this mountain road…" Hana pointed out.

Miho looked. There were indeed many areas on the road they were on overlooking the western side of the map. There were also many peaks that provided them the cover that they've had from the west side the whole time.

"If the flag tank is on the west side, maybe I can get a vantage point from here towards them." Hana said.

Miho looked at it, 75 mm shells missing the tank as she did. She then looked at the field map provided. "Yes, but it will only be at a certain angle…"

"It's worth a shot I think!" Saori said. "If we take out the flag tank! We can win!"

"We've lost many of our heavy hitters," Yukari pointed out. "The toughest vehicle we have right now is the Porsche Tiger..."

Miho thought about it. A fast way to end the match? Sounds like an effort worth taking. "Okay, we'll go forward a bit and see if we can see the opposing side from here. If we can, we'll go ahead and target them specifically."

"Okay!"

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The seven tanks of Jasmine charged forwards, stopping when they saw in front of them was an open desert area with no cover standing between the artillery position and the rocky terrain of the east. Azusa was well aware of the artillery force, the 155 mm gun could make mincemeat of any of their tanks, plus the other six vehicles they have were capable of direct fire so they were still a threat.

Should they just go out regardless with the intent of taking out as many as they could? Sounded more suicidal than the Hellcat encounter.

Some scouting needs to be done.

"Pepperoni!"

" _Yeah?!_ "

"Can you scout ahead and see what's up?!"

" _Will do!_ " Pepperoni replied as her tankette then sped out of cover into the field, trying to get to the next dune depression for cover. As she did, Azusa sees shell impacts explode in the path zone of the tankette.

The L3 made it safely behind a dune cover. Azusa looked up from her cupola with binoculars. In a distance, she could see the artillery vehicles. They were pointed towards her direction. Seems like they didn't like what Mika did to their friends.

"It's like we'll all be decimated if we go out there!" Aya said inside the M3.

"You're right, it's too open from here on out. Continuation was only able to get here because no one thought they'd be here."

"So now what?"

"We can't just leave Pepperoni out there!" Yuuki called out.'

Azusa thought over the situation. _What would Miho do?_

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The match was starting to turn against the cadets, but it wasn't over yet. Not by a large margin.

The loss of the eastern side was not too serious considering the vehicle composition of the enemy team there. On the west, the 155 mm provided them enough cover on one side, the T-34-85's can't pop out without the risk of being nailed. The remains of Chip can hold their line in the center with three Jumbos against a Tiger, Panzer IV, and a pitiful Type 97.

"Isabelle!" Daniel shouted in his radio.

"Yes commander?!" Isabelle replied.

"Focus fire on the east region now," He said, "we can take it from here."

"Affirmative!"

Daniel looked at the situation in front of him. He's got five tanks on the left side, all Shermans, but the enemy only has two T-34-85s here. He'll take down the two T-34s here, move on to assist the east side, then finally eliminate the opposition at the center.

A gamble, he grinned at the prospect. It excited him, gave him the thrills of combat, the possibility of a complete turn around that can lead his team to victory.

He found that prospect three years ago during Patton high school when his commander left his company for dead in the nationals. The odds against him, he turned the whole situation around and snatched victory and credit for himself, shaming his commander for such a sacrificial tactic and rising in the ranks.

But he had always envisioned doing that again, a total turn around in a bad situation makes for good drama. It looks like he just might against not only any tank school, but from 'The Legend'. It was all very exciting to him.

"Mickies and Donald," he ordered in his radio. "Final countdown. Let's take care of those T-34s."

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Mihosha! They're coming for us!" Katyusha cried into his radio.

" _Where?_ " Miho voice came back.

"On the west side damn it!" Katyusha pointed out the obvious.

" _Do you have grid coordinates?"_

"I don't have the time!" Katyusha cried out as the gunner fired the 85 mm gun.

" _Ah!_ " Miho seemed surprised.

"What?!"

" _No-nothing! I'll assist right away!_ "

"Wait, how?!" Katyusha cried out, but another Sherman popped up in front of her while the gun was reloading. The 76 mm taking aim. "Oh come on!"

The 76 mm vibrated the entire T-34-85 violently. A white flag popped up and the Sherman moved on to the last remaining T-34-85.

* * *

 **East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

" _I'm out!_ " Azusa heard Katyusha's voice cry out as her T-34-85 was hit.

"We've got to do something fast Azusa!" Yuuki said.

"Wait…" Azusa looked at the situation. Large open space with no cover, that would mean they need some concealment so they don't get instantly targeted as they move. A form of concealment… "Ayumi!"

"Yeah?!"

"Did we have any of those special shells we were given earlier this week?!"

"Umm…" Ayumi checked the 75 mm shell stowage. "Da da da… Ah! Here's one! We've got a few!"

"Load them!"

"A moment!" Ayumi cried out as clattering of shells happened in the tank.

"Oh I see!" Aya cried out.

"So we can all move together!" Karina said.

"Loaded!" Ayumi cried out.

"Hit the ground between us and them!" Azusa said. She then took the radio, "All Jasmine, wait for my command! Move out there and find some cover!"

" _Whoa whoa wait! What?! There's nothing out there!"_ Anchovy called in.

"Trust me!" Azusa said. "Ayumi, fire!"

Ayumi fired the 75 mm M2 gun on the M3 Lee's sponson. The shell went out flying a distance past Pepperoni's position with the L3/33 and impacting the ground. The moment it did, white phosphorus content in the shell burst, exposing phosphorus to the oxygen in the air, forming diphosphorus pentaoxide, which then reacts with the moisture in the air and holds the water molecules, growing larger and larger to form the disruption in the air as smoke.

"Go!" Azusa cried out as the M3 Lee started moving. Anchovy, Carpaccio, the Type 89, BT-42, and Type 3 followed.

* * *

 **South Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Sarge! Smoke!" Henderson called out what he saw to Isabelle. She looked at the emitting smoke in the distance.

"Damnit!" Isabelle shouted. "We can't waste ammo at targets we can't see." She got onto the radio. "All Minnie, this is Minnie 1, focus fire into that smoke. High-explosives! Dispel that cloud"

" _Roger that!_ " The orders came in.

"Aimer, get ready for when they arrive. I want them suppressed until Mickey gets here!"

"Roger that sarge!" Henderson cried out, keeping his eye through the vehicle's scope.

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

75 mm shells landed nearby as Hana adjusted the Panzer IV's sights to the west. The shells landing closer by each impact.

"C'mon… hurry!" Saori said nervously. The Panzer IV's front armor may be enough to resist the 75 mm shell, but if one hit the turret side…

"Hana, can you get it?" Miho asked calmly.

"I think I see them," Hana said as she viewed through her scope. The T-34-85's gun sound report was distinctive enough for them to identify their location. Now they just have to look at the relative direction and hope the target appears.

Anglerfish parked the Panzer IV in a rather exposed area. The mountain road area they are at now is not particularly surrounded by the rock formations covering them. The Jumbos could see them and were trying to hammer them. If they really wanted to, artillery strikes could hit the place as well. However, it was one of the few places they've come across giving them a good view of the whole desert area on the west.

"I see Klara…" Hana stated. The lone T-34-85 was now against the incoming M4 Shermans of the American cadets. But only one of the bunch is the flag tank, and Hana would have one chance to get them before they are aware of what is happening.

Another 75 mm shrieked in the air and impacted the rock. Their aim were getting better.

Then a distinctive firing noise down in the mountain road occurred, an 88 mm cannon. The sound of the shell scrunching and not affecting the front armor of the Jumbo followed.

" _We'll cover you the best we can! Take your time with the aiming!_ " Leopon team said as they advanced closer to the Jumbos. The Jumbos seemed to have taken attention as the 75 mm shells close to the Panzer IV slowed down as two of the Jumbos diverted their turrets towards the approaching Tiger.

The Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha, the last survivor of Chi-Ha-Tan, was also giving all its got. In a moment of insanity, the Type 97 charged down the mountain road, down the rocky steep-sloped cliff, down to the Jumbos below. The Jumbo commanders barely registered until it crashed down to the ground, still in good shape. The side hull armor was tough enough to withstand the 47 mm of this Chi-Ha, but the lower side hull where the suspension bogies are were never uparmored…

At point-blank range, the Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha sent a 47 mm shell into that weaker side armor. The Jumbo it hit sputtered smoke and then a white flag, the remaining Jumbo taking its attention on the Panzer IV swerved its turret to engage the small tank.

As the tight combat occurred, Hana kept looking at the Shermans for the right target. Like a sniper stalking their high-valued target, Hana was determined to make sure her one shot will lead to one kill.

* * *

 **South-East Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

"Fire!" Azusa shouted again as Ayumi fired another 75 mm smoke shell in the distance. As they made concealment, Jasmine team closed the distance with the artillery, they will take the range advantage that big gun away and bombard them in closer ranges.

The white phosphorus smoke was quite arid, not like the smoke generators they used during the nationals. When the M3 Lee drove through the first smoke screen, the smoke stung her lungs and eyes. Coughing out the irritant, she made a mental note to tell Miho Nishizumi about the shell's side effect. None of the movies she watched had the heros be affected by the smoke so she was very surprised at this untold detail. When they cleared the smoke, Azusa felt the air come back cleanly and clearly.

"*cough* Uh, Azusa, maybe we should fire the smoke as cover and just go around it next time…" Yuuki told Azusa a while ago after passing through the first one.

"Yeah… *cough* I agree." Azusa replied. The second smoke shell was fired on the distance, far enough that Jasmine wouldn't cross it soon and still provide adequate concealment.

Then an artillery barrage started coming in. The shells landed around the area the first smoke shell was placed, but Jasmine was long past there. Ausa looked back at the barrage area and noticed the explosion blowing away the smoke created by the shell, also like the time in the nationals when Kuromorimine fired high-explosives into their smoke screen when they climbed the hill.

As they moved in, they were now only about 500 meters away from the artillery vehicles. At this distance, they can engage them adequately.

"Engage those targets!" Azusa radioed in to Jasmine.

" _Alright! Let's go!_ " Anchovy said as the Anzio trio vehicles started moving towards their desired areas. The P40 maneuvered around the dune, finding an advantageous position as the smoke still hid them. The BT-42 started off towards the left behind the dunes.

"Got target!" Aya shouted from inside the 37 mm turret.

"Me too!" Ayumi shouted with her 75 mm cannon.

"Fire!" Azusa shouted.

* * *

 **South Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

The collapsing defense line in the east side had been in the worry of the artillery crew. Benningham's platoon was sent to focus direct-fire on the east. The 105 mm, settled down to facing forward, fired upon the vehicles incoming. They only had to hold them off until the captain finished their business on the west and then reinforce them. Plus, they still had a 155 mm cannon overlooking the area, as long as the Shermans and the "Long Tom" was still alive, the cadets still have a chance.

"Fire when ready!" Benningham said as the gunner aimed the gun down range. The 105 mm emitted a loud _BANG_ with every shot. The breech operator and loader were hard at work supplying enough ammo to keep the other end saturated with fire.

Suddenly, the vehicle to his left had a large explosion happen outside their vehicle with a loud _KRABOOM_. The personnel in the M7 Priest were jolted around or outright thrown off the vehicle with the explosion.

 _A catastrophic failure?_ Benningham first thought, but soon the same type of explosion occurred on his own Priest. The explosion rattled everything. Benningham himself was thrown from the blasted Priest and found himself a few feet away from it, his crew also shaken about, some were crying out in pain.

"Wha- damnit! A flanker!?" Benningham deduced. He tried to get up, but one of his arms felt limp and he fell down, in pain. He looked up and saw the two Priest hit by this mysterious assailant were now flagged, and it wouldn't be long before the rest of the company was wiped out.

* * *

Aki loaded the propellant charge of the 4.5-inch howitzer in the BT-42. The 114 mm howitzer had fired two rounds towards the American's artillery group. Two had been hit and are out of the match. The other four were frantically searching the enemy who had done this to their fellow cadets.

Mika, with no change in her usual demeanor, ordered, "Fire again!" as Aki fired the howitzer at the next target, the BT-42 on top of a dune far towards the south from where the rest of Jasmine were. Downrange, the last of the Priest group got shaken about as the howitzer's high-explosive round impacted the side of the hull. Aki saw the crew being thrown about from the explosion, some of them attempting to regroup at the downed vehicles. it was discomforting seeing the crews being affected by the shots like that. Aki thought maybe the others would have second thoughts, but no one seemed to object. Was she the only one seeing this?

"Jasmine, this is Mika," Mika said in her radio. "We've dealt with the artillery group aiming their guns at you. Proceed."

" _Alright! Thanks! All tanks, let's go!_ " Anchovy's voice came back. Mika just smiled as in the distance, she saw Jasmine starting to move up.

Mika returned her focus to the battered south group of the cadets. A large vehicle was moving behind the dunes. The long protrusion made Mika decide they shouldn't stay there for long. "Mikko! Forward down the dune!"

"Right!" Mikko said as the BT-42 went down, seemingly surfing alongside the dune slope.

Aki huffed a breath of relief. _Open-topped SPGs huh?_ She thought, glad that Continuation currently did not own any of that sort of equipment.

* * *

 **West Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

" _Commander, the east side is about to fold!_ " Isabelle said into the radio.

Hill swerved the M4A3E8 down the dune as Ethan looked through the 76 mm optics at the lone T-34-85 remaining. Another Sherman had crossed the other dune and the T-34-85 took notice of that instead, letting _Hatin'_ _Love_ cross over and take aim of the enemy tank. While the Sherman slood down the dune, Ethan pressed his foot down on the pedal for the gun, firing the 76 mm into the back turret of the T-34-85, knocking it out.

"Copy that Isabelle, we're on our way," Daniel radioed in while looking out the cupola. "West side is secured."

Now all that's left was the center and east. "Hill, turn right."

The Sherman started turning towards the south side of the map again. East side is mostly filled with inferior tanks, they had a tankette for heaven's sakes, as soon as the Shermans arrive, they could withstand all of their shells and annihilate them from the distance.

He saw the loving 155 mm fire its payload again from the distance before he heard the noise. He thought of the poor bastard who was on the other end of that thing. Daniel thought about the situation. Mickey, still consisting of its original three tanks, will head back and reinforce the the area with the Jumbos and artillery. If they could consolidate their position, they still had a chance to win. He looked at the distance with his binoculars.

A large kinetic crash blasted the right side of his turret. He was jolted towards the left, slamming his body onto the Sherman turret top. The cupola swung around with the force and came down on him, crushing him under its weight.

Then the tank started tilting…

* * *

 **Center Area of the Mojave Staging Area - California, U.S.A.**

Hana exhaled as she saw the round travel the distance to the group of Shermans that showed itself to her, starting to turn right in an attempt to head back. She saw one of them, one farthest from the rest, with the flag. Following it for a few seconds, adjusting for speed, distance, and wind, she determined the shot was valid.

The 75 mm shell traveled at about 790 meters per second, meaning at this distance, the shell will take a whole second, a little more or less, to get to the target. Making a small prayer to her skills and handiness, she allowed the shell to fly true. Watching the white beam fall into the distance, and nailing not just the side of the tank, but the turret top on the right. The impact sent the Sherman tilting, before falling onto its side.

Now, Hana couldn't see if a white flag came up from this distance, but that was a pretty clear sign that…

Ōarai might have won.

"Target down," Hana said calmly without taking her eye off the scope.

Miho and Yukari exhaled. Before looking at each other and smiling.

"We did it Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari said joyfully as she was holding an AP round.

"Yes… we did!" Miho said.

"Great job everyone!" Saori said in the Panzer IV's radio set.

Miho looked from on top of the Panzer IV's turret at the distance. The Shermans looked like small specks from here with her natural eye sight. It was perhaps a new record for Hana's longest kill. Not only just any tank kill, but one that was moving as well.

The announcer sounded as the firing died down as they realized what happened. Anglerfish team waited for those words to hear. That they won.

Instead, very loud siren sounded with these words.

" _MAN DOWN, ALL CONTESTANTS CEASE FIRING, WE HAVE A MAN DOWN!"_

"H-huh?"

* * *

 **Okay, I lied.**

 **I'm a terrible student.**

 **If you finished this chapter, you might think I'm a terrible person too. Leaving y'all hanging on the cliff like that. But the plot must progress! Even the battles in the anime didn't last too long to keep the audience fresh!**

 **After breaking my statement of "no updates" twice in two weeks, I'm a bit iffy on saying I "won't update" despite this month being busy again with my family (Christmas, am I right? :D). I guess the best way to find out when the story WILL update is by Following and Favoriting the story! You'll get an email notification after all!**

 **Once again, thank you all for reading through my work! If you want to help me improve, feel free to critique my writing with a review! I plan to go over my last 10 chapters some time and do some much-needed grammar corrections at some parts. Your viewership inspires me to continue and I hope you will continue to support me! You all rock!**

 ***EDIT*: Grammar correction. Thank you to the one pointing it out to me!**


	12. R&R

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_

 **Chapter 12: R &R**

 **Next Day - Fort Irwin, CA**

Miho, along with the rest of Anglerfish, sat in the visitor's entrance building of Fort Irwin National Training Center. The tan-colored wall paper blended well with the dark wood used on the edges of the room, fitting in with the receptionist area where their guide was talking with the staff member on entering. A small circular fan whirled on the roof, vibrating in a tone that followed with Mako's nodding off.

Any other day, this may have been a great experience to see what kind of facilities the United States military has to offer for their top-notch training. However, they were here to visit someone, with a small bouquet of flower specially made by Hana.

Without a train station nearby, the girls had to take commute over the roads, a 2 hours drive from the port. The guide with them who drove them there was a League official, someone Miho saw during their match victory ceremony. Aside from transporting them back to the carrier with their tanks, Miho asked where the casualties of the match went.

Where Daniel, that is, went to after the match was over. After some deliberation and talks, the man offered to take her to see him at this place. Fort Irwin. No promises, however.

The match ended at a different note than Miho thought it was going to.

The sirens, the warnings.

The helicopter bearing a red cross.

She couldn't shake the feeling that she was responsible for whatever injury she caused. Miho wanted to make amends any way she could.

"It's just like a standard hospital visit," Hana comforted the distressed Miho, "we're just showing them that we cared and it wasn't intentional."

"Mm…" Miho nodded. "But even then, this never happened before."

"Yeah…" Yukari said, "we've never seen a time someone got seriously hurt in a match of Tankery or Sensha-Dou."

"Alright girls," the official said as he walked up to them after his time at the staff. "They're letting only you five in."

"What about you?" Saori asked the man.

"Not me. Honestly, you five shouldn't even be allowed in," the man said. "But they said only you girls can go in with a guide."

"Really?" Miho said.

"Yes, just go past the gates, someone should be here soon to guide you the rest of the way," the man said gesturing to the door.

The girls got up and went out. It was a nice sunny day by all means, though they were still technically in the Mojave Desert. The dust and sand of the desert blew around with the win along with Miho's yellow dress. She put her head on her hat on top to prevent it from flying away.

A car engine growled up closer to them. Miho turned to see a van roll up next to the girls. From the driver's seat, she sees a uniformed man in his mid-20s come up to them.

"Are you the um, 'Ōarai Girls'? The uniformed man said.

"Ah, yes!" Miho replied.

"Corporal Jake." He said, introducing himself. "I'm suppose to take you to the hospital here, is that right?"

"Yes please!" Miho said.

"Alright then, get on board," he gestured towards the van.

"Is this how they handle visitors?" Saori asked towards the rest of her group.

"I wouldn't know…" Yukari said.

Corporal Jake drove the girls towards the base center. It didn't look much like a standard military base, Miho saw residential houses of normal sorts, those you would see in a suburban area. They then passed by a park, then a school!

"Doesn't look much like a military base to me," Saori said.

"Hmm? Oh that?" Jake answered, "that's the housing. Lots of families live on military bases."

"Wow, interesting," Yukari noted. "I'd want to live on a base…"

"Maybe next time when you're an American citizen," Corporal Jake joked.

"Doesn't look too bad of a lifestyle…" Miho said.

"By the way, I wanted to say; that was a pretty good match you girls played!" Jake said.

"Huh?"

"The match two days ago in the desert against the ACA, that was a pretty good match considering what you got and what they had," Jake said.

"Oh that," Miho said, she hadn't been giving much thought about it since yesterday. "I think I really messed up though…"

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"I am the one who got Daniel hurt…" Miho said.

Jake was quiet for a moment, then said, "Well look, he's about fine now. He's just gotta be in the hospital for a few weeks, that's all."

"B-but…"

"Miho," Hana said. "If anyone is to feel guilty about it, it should be me. I shot that shell at his tank."

"Yeah… but I ordered you to-"

"How about you girls see this guy before you make quick judgements about yourself?" Jake said. "I don't think he'd like the Legend to be beating herself up like this."

Miho sighed at that name, "so even you know about that?"

"I don't think there's a single tankery enthusiast who hasn't heard that name now," Jake said. "Do you not like it?"

"I'm not comfortable with it yet…" Miho said.

"Alright then," Jake said before quieting down, letting the girls look back at the scenery.

When they got closer towards the fort center, it looked a lot like a small urban area. There was a coffee shop right there, and a pizza place! A quality lifestyle seemed to be had here with various parks and large sign.

 _National Training Center_

Just as if the place was a tourist location.

A few more blocks and Jake got the van to park. "Okay, we're here," he said.

"Thanks!" Miho said as the girls got out. Saori was the first one to see their location as she dragged Mako out of the van.

"W-weed Army Community Hospital?" Saori looked at the name incredulously.

"I don't think they mean the other one…" Hana said.

Jake sighed, "Yeah… they are probably going to rename that after that proposition passed," He said. "Let's go in."

"You have to guide us all the way in?" Miho said.

"You girls don't even have government IDs, technically you're not suppose to be here. But Daniel said you guys could so that's why I'm here."

"Daniel let us in?" Miho asked.

"If he didn't, you all would've been gone ten minutes ago," Jake said.

"See Miho? It's not like they hate you!" Saori said.

Miho was still uncomfortable about the situation as they all got into the hospital. A lively place, the white walls with a blue band running across naturally lead the six into a waiting room. Kids were playing around in the room, clacking various toys whilst their mothers were with the staff or sitting at the chair. Medical professionals walked in and out at hurried paces, clad in turquoise scrubs or in a white coat that flaps around as their body flowed.

"Just wait here," Jake said as he went up to a staff behind the counter.

Miho and the four took a seat in the aqua green chairs with line designs of red and blue colors. They idled there as Jake talked to the nurse. A TV on the roof corner to Miho's left took her attention. She read the captions roll through with the reporter's silent commentary.

 _SUVOROV IS SMASHING HOME GUARD 10 IN THEIR MATCH. THEY DON'T SEEM TO BE LETTING UP AFTER THEIR SCOUTING THREE DAYS AGO. HOME GUARD 10 BASE HAS BEEN ON THE DEFENSIVE ALMOST 24/7._

"Another one sided battle?" Yukari said as Miho yelped at Yukari's sudden statement.

"Uh, yeah, looks like it," Miho said.

"Hmm…" Yukari seemed to be in thought.

"Looks like they have an aggressive scouting method too," Miho said.

"I know, I'm wondering what can we do about it."

"What can we do about it?" Miho also thought. "Suvorov is a military school. I don't think we can fight them off if they try…"

"Yeah…"

"You girls ready?" Jake suddenly came up.

"A- Yes!" Miho said abruptly standing up. Yukari followed as fast like following her reactions instinctively.

"Okay, this kind nurse will show you the rest of the way. I'll be waiting here," Jake said.

"You don't have to," Saori said.

"No, you'll probably get in more trouble if you try leaving without me anyways," Jake said.

"Remember, we're unauthorized personnel here Saori…" Yukari said.

"Please follow me," the nurse said, gesturing to a direction down a hallway.

The hospital was a large place. The hallway winded in various directions, a man could get lost in this place.

Along the way, Miho and the group almost bumped into a group of patients going the opposite way, brushing across one of them who had an arm cast.

"Excuse me!" Miho said.

"Oh no, excu- Hey…" The guy said towards Miho as soon as his eyes set on her. As he did, the other patients also noticed her.

"Um…" Miho was at the loss with these men and women looking at her.

"You… you're Ōarai's commander, aren't you?" The man with the arm cast said.

"...Yeah?" Miho said, still confused on what was going on. Her friends were also staring, not sure on the development here.

The man looked as if he wanted to explode, say something straight to Miho said. He took up his free right hand, pointing straight at her, his body accusing her of something. But he exhaled heavily and opened his hand. "Lewis Benningham."

"Uh, Miho," She said as she grasped it, gently as if she didn't want to have the man deal with two arm casts.

"I'm one of the commanders of the artillery unit shelling your team yesterday," he said, then gestured towards the other patients around him. "These are some of my crew."

"The M7 Priests?" Yukari said, finally realizing who they were.

Miho was shocked. If these men and women were there yesterday fighting them, why are they in the hospital with bandages around them? What caused them? The man in front of her, Benningham, had an arm cast for his left and a bandage wrapped around his head. A women behind him also had her face mostly covered in bandages. Another was on crutches.

"Wh-what happened to you guys?" Miho said.

Benningham simply smiled at that response, "Of course, this isn't your fault…"

"Huh?"

"Oh nothing," he said, "let's just say that working with an exposed crew compartment… led to complications."

"What? But how?" Miho asked, thinking about her tactics. Did someone attack these people?

"Nothing," Benningham said. "Don't worry about it."

Miho wanted to ask more, but the group started walking or limping away. Miho could only look as they disappear down the hallway.

"Miho…" Saori said, worried.

"Excuse me," the nurse called their attention. "Do you still want to see the patient?"

"Uh, yes please," Yukari answered. Miho slowly turned and followed.

They went up an elevator towards the second floor. On the second floor, Miho's heart sunk more when she saw the floor was for patients intended for extended stays in the hospital. Was Daniel hurt that bad? Even worse than those that they just met?

"Right here," the nurse said, stopping in front of a door number 217. "He should be awake now. The ones you saw earlier were visitors."

"Thank you, miss," Hana said bowing. The nurse left as they looked at the door.

"Miho? You ready?" Saori said.

"Y-yeah," Miho weakly answered as she reached for the door.

Opening the door, the light from the sun came down the open window on the other end of the froom. The dark turquoise blinds flowed as the wind blew in. Looking towards the sun, she could see a bed there with the patient on it, and a woman over it, holding something towards the bedridden person.

"Here, say 'Aah…'" The woman said as she held something, with a cupped hand under it, towards the person.

The person on the bed responded. "Ahh," as the object came in. He glomped down on it with his mouth.

"Umm…" Saori said in the silence the girls were in in the scene. The girl, with her rolling brown hair swaying with the wing, suddenly looked towards the unexpected visitors.

"Ah- I- uh-" She started to protest. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Sure it isn't Isabelle," Daniel said, smiling.

"Wha- You knew they were coming, didn't you!?"

Despite their bright personalities, Miho was shocked on Daniel's condition. His forehead was covered with bandages, as well as his upper body. his left arm was in a cast and his right leg in a cast hanged up above his lying posture. On the skin exposed from the patient gown, there was evidence of heavy bruising and other damages. Was all this just from yesterday?

"Get in here, don't clutter up the doorway," Daniel gestured towards the girls.

"Excuse us," Miho said instinctively as they entered. "Um, we got you these flowers."

"Oh thanks!" Daniel said with a chipper tone. "Just put it right here."

Daniel focused on the small end table next to the bed. Miho saw it was already filled with "Get Well Soon" cards and a flower vase almost full as well. Hana took the flowers and arranged the vase content to fit it in.

"What brings you all here today?" Daniel said. "I was honestly surprised to hear that you girls were visiting."

"Um," Miho tried to say out her words. "S-Sorry for hurting you yesterday."

"Sorry?" Daniel said, as if surprised the girls came all the way to say that to him.

"Yeah," Miho assured.

"Huh," Daniel said, "Well I really appreciate the gesture."

"I see…"

A pause followed between the two sides. Isabelle had taken a stance similar to that of a body guard near the window. She was in a dress uniform with a beige top and dark slacks, with a garrison cap in her grasp.

"If I may ask, what happened to you in the match?" Yukari said, breaking the ice.

"Well…" Daniel started. "First I got knocked onto the turret with the shell impact. Nothing major there, but then the cupola swung onto me." He said. "Crushed my upper body area, a broken rib and the physical trauma caused some other internal damages."

Miho winced upon hearing the type of injury he sustained.

"Not only that," Daniel said. "Our Sherman was on fell over. I was hanging off the cupola so when the whole thing hit the ground, I was thrown off, landed on my left arm and head." He then pointed to the left arm cast and head bandage as Miho's face look more concerned. "Finally, Mr. cupola hatch decide to come back down again right on my leg as I came out." He pointed to the leg hanging up by the ceiling sling. "Impact also caused some bruising and the doctor also said there were internal hemorrhages, but I think I'm fine from that now."

"Wow! You're pretty tough!" Yukari said.

"I know right?" Daniel said, "But regardless, it was your victory in the end. All that's in the past, now we're just recuperating from our losses."

"Miporin are you alright?" Saori asked.

"Hm? Oh, yeah…" Miho replied slowly. Daniel looked over at the distressed Miho. He stared down with confusion at the young girl's reaction to his injuries. Miho noticed it too and wondered, was it something else she did that he wanted to speak out?

After analyzing her for a few seconds, he turned to the others and said, "Could I speak to Miho alone please?"

"Huh?" Isabelle and Anglerfish reacted to this weird request. "Uh, yes sir," Isabelle said as she gestured towards the rest of Anglerfish to do as he said.

"Uh, okay," Saori said, reluctantly going along with the rest of Anglerfish. She looked at Miho, who looked back with pleading eyes for support. But Daniel asked for the two to be alone, and he isn't that bad of a guy… right?

The room got empty as the others shuffled out. The door closed with a solid click. Miho was alone with Daniel, who took a heavy sigh as he contemplated on what to say. Was he going to scold her on her recklessness? Force her to give the medical bill? Threaten for unsportsmanship behavior in Tankery?

"What's with your worried face?" Daniel said.

"Huh?"

"You should be happy, with winning the first round of the World Tournament."

"But, your condition!" Miho protested.

"My condition? Health insurance provided by the state and the League has got me covered. After I left the emergency room, all concerns of my well being should've been solved."

"How can you-... how can you just take this kind of thing so lightly?" Miho asked. Surprised at Daniel's serious, yet carefree take of the situation.

Daniel sighed, "Tankery… isn't the kind of sport one goes in expecting to come out in one piece."

"Huh?"

"Tankery in the world, it's nothing like what you people have back in Japan. That fight against Kuromormine you had in the nationals? In terms of the playbooks, that was nothing. People take these things out here very seriously, I'm sure you heard about that story a lot by now."

Miho nodded.

"But when I see you now…" Daniel started. "I can see that even with your experiences around tanks and your spiritual arts, you still don't know the true dedication people have with Tankery."

"E-even Kuromormine?"

"Even Kuromormine. People are way more hardcore about this stuff. There's a very shaky history behind Tankery, Miho. The amount of fanaticism inside it, people treating this like it's some new currency or some shit." He sighed, "You know one of the reason why I admire the Tankery sport in places like China and Japan?"

"Why?"

"They learned how to relax about this. Taking on a spiritual value in Tankery rather than as a full-fledged competition. That's why the world has come to call that specific part 'Sensha-Dou', not 'Japanese Tankery' or the such, it's just so different. And frankly, that's how I believe Tankery should be in the world. A way for us to come together and acknowledge our differences, but…" He paused, "but there has been conflict, tension, even wars because of Tankery."

"War?" Miho asked. Tankery causing war?

"We're just students playing around with weapons of war, Miho. We ride tanks because we want to feel a bit more than ourselves. Part of a crew, part of a team, part of something bigger. Riding around in vehicles able to cause big explosions, it's an exhilarating feeling anyone is willing to experience even once. But in places of conflict, those people feel it all their lives as Tankery is used as an excuse to train children for war. Pumping out hundreds by the year to send to the battlefield"

"I- I never knew."

"Of course you haven't," Daniel said, "Who do you think is covering up these kinds of nasty news?"

"The League…?"

"Heh," Daniel chuckled, "you don't see these things happening without looking at the trends. Heck, you can argue any cadet being trained in Tankery is themselves being prepared to become a full-fledged tanker once they reach of age or make the commitment, even me. Tankery isn't as spiritual as your practiced Sensha-Dou."

"W-Why are you telling me this?" Miho asked.

"Because while I respect your ideals and admire them, I don't want to see you chewed up out there Miho. The world is a much dangerous place by the year. One day, someone is going to do something very messy and Tankery will become the next disco. Dead and gone."

Miho took in his words. If what he says is true, her time with mother and Kuromormine seemed like a cake walk. She couldn't grasp how people could be all over Tankery like this.

"I want you to be ready for it. Don't go into this like it's a sport like I did. Go in it as a life-or-death struggle. A battle which you must come out alive. You were fortunate to fight against my team first. The Russian and Germans wouldn't even give you a chance. My injuries will be nothing compared to the pain you will feel if you don't toughen up now."

The words reminded Miho of a certain tone. Something someone said earlier to her. "I-I'm not sure I can commit to it like that though…"

"Of course you can," Daniel reassured. "You're the 'Legend' after all."

Miho sighed as she heard that name again. She didn't like it, not because it showcased her achievements, but because it raised everyone's expectation of her. Daniel's team already brought out their newer artillery vehicle as a reaction, and people got hurt because of it.

"So the next time you go onto that field, don't think about my condition now. People get hurt in sport, Miho. It's like that in every single one out there. This incident now is not the only one, and it may not be the last. Don't worry about hurting people, because you'll just be hurting yourself in the long run in this kind of sport. Tankery is cruel, we just have to adapt."

Miho took the words in. It wasn't a pretty lesson. Be cruel to win? That's nothing like what's she's been told about Sensha-Dou! Would her mother even approve of this kind of thing?

Actually, now that she thought about it, this was exactly one of the things her mother might approve for the sake of victory.

"I'm still not so sure…" Miho said, "How can I call it a victory if I lose the things I hold dear?"

"Sometimes Miho," Daniels said, "We just don't have the choice."

That answer still didn't sit well with Miho. There must be another way!

"Well, if you really can't" Daniel interrupted her train of thought. "I'd hate to be the team to lose to a high school that can't get past the second round. Can you at least do it for me then? Win the matches not to fulfill some desire inside you to win with all your might or because the world made you. Do it for me and the cadets, who went through all this trouble to lose against you. Don't let our sacrifices go to waste."

Miho looked up at Daniel with that remark. Ōarai has gotten this far fighting for the hopes and dreams its contestants had stood up for. What Daniel had laid out for Miho was his hopes for their school. Fighting without regard for anyone is not the way Ōarai does it, and it wouldn't abandon any friends easily. So when Miho heard that from Daniel, his hopes had become one with Ōarai's ideals. Something Miho can hope she can hold up at the very least. "I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best Daniel!" Miho said with an ounce of new found confidence.

Daniel smiled back, "Damn right you will."

* * *

Miho closed the door behind her into the hallway. She saw her friends there, as well as Isabelle, waiting patiently for the two to finish.

"What'd he say?" Saori asked curiously.

"He wished us good luck on the tournament," Miho summarized the chat she had.

"See Miporin? He's not that bad of a guy!"

"I guess…"

"I didn't have a chance to say this yesterday…" Isabelle said, "but congratulations on your victory."

"Thank you, Ms. Bradley!"

"You can just call me Isabelle."

"We have to get going now. Don't want to keep our guide waiting," Hana said.

"I understand, thank you for visiting."

With that, the five girls from Ōarai went off down the hallway to find the exit. Isabelle turned to Daniel's room and entered.

He was looking out the window, the sun still shining in.

"Would you like me to close the blinds?" She asked him.

"Nah, this little is fine," he said. Isabelle returned her seat by his right side, trying to shield some of the sun rays from his face.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked.

"They'll need you, Isabelle," Daniel said. "I'll be fine here, the people here are good, and Benningham and the others will be around to make sure I'm not alone."

"B-but-"

"I know this role isn't one you're used to, but I believe you're the best one suited for it. Take some of our stuff too, anything that can help you do your job to help them in this tournament."

Isabelle sighed. Again with his unorthodox methods. "And if the colonel finds out, what do I tell him?"

"Just tell him we were making a worthwhile investment."

Isabelle smiled. His attitude and her's may conflict, but they developed a sort of unspoken trust to each other's words. She got up from her seat and saluted, "Very well, Daniel, I'll do my best."

"I'm counting on you Isabelle."

* * *

 **Ōarai Girl's High School - Ōarai Carrier**

Anglerfish made it back to the carrier by evening, the sunset was shining onto the deck, displaying a beautiful sight.

Yesterday night and today was busy for the Sensha-Dou team as the tanks required care and maintenance. Knocked out tanks must be fixed, not an easy task with the increased tank numbers. Those not knocked out were subjected to extensive maintenance on pretty much every moving part ranging from the suspension to the guns. Anglerfish's Panzer IV was cared for by Leopon as they went to check on Daniel. When they got back, the maintenance and clean-up was all done and ready for the next day.

Miho and the other girls, hands full of newly-bought groceries,made their way back to Miho's apartment.

"I wanted to check out Los Angeles while we're still here," Yukari said.

"Why's that?" Miho said.

"Well Miho, there's a whole bunch of cool stuff there! Amusement parks, landmarks, and shopping centers!" Saori said.

"Amusement parks?" Yukari said. "I was thinking more of Tankery-related shops around the area."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"I don't think anyone is surprised by her priorities at this point, Saori…" Hana said.

"Well, maybe after practice tomorrow, we may have some free time to visit. It'll be short, a few hours, but maybe that's all we need." Miho said.

"Can't we just look through their online inventory?..." Mako said.

"Well, there's no fun looking at stuff we're going to buy with only pictures to go off of," Yukari said.

"I think we should at least take a look before we make more purchases…" Miho said, "...but we need to look at the amount of funds we have in the first place."

"Okay!" Yukari said.

"So how should we cook this? Nabe? Or just standard?"

* * *

 **Next Day**

Aside from all the new students that "transferred" over last week, classes continued as normal for the Ōarai school girls. But classes weren't on their minds next to the international tournament they are in. Liberties were given to the Tankery members at lunch to go ahead and practice for the tournament.

"Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari glomped Miho as she walked down the school hallway.

"Hi Yukari."

"It's been a long time since I was in the good ol' Panzer!"

"It's only been two days, Yukari."

The two walked down to the garages of the tank field. The team members of the Ōarai Compound Team made a very large crowd in the briefing area of the tank field. Everyone from Saunders, St. Gloriana, Pravda, Anzio, Chi-Ha-Tan, and Continuation were present, as well as Ami with the student council.

"Miho!" Various members of the team called out to her.

Miho greeted the others as she walked in.

"Everyone's as pumped as ever, huh?" Yukari said.

"Yeah, we're all excited," Miho said.

"Hey Miho!" A familiar voice call out.

"Kay! How are you?"

"Good! You?" Kay said as confident as ever.

"Yeah, I'm feeling a bit better today."

"How was Daniel?"

"Oh, uh, he's still quite energetic despite his injuries…"

"Ha, that's just like him," Kay said. "Yep…"

"Is something wrong Kay?" Miho noted Kay's drooping expression.

"I dunno…" Kay said as she dropped her happy demeanor. "It's just that… I almost led the team to a disaster that other day. When I told you that all the Americans would have was Shermans and Stuarts?"

"Kay, it's all right."

"Sure, we won. But… it's something I never thought they'd do, and I almost brought us down with that."

"Kay…"

"I won't make the same mistake, Miho. Forgive me."

"Kay, it's okay. We all make mistakes, and we made it through the first round, we can make it through the second."

"Yeah, well… Look, because of that, I also took into consideration in upgrading some of our equipment here. If the ACA is the standard of what we're going to see in the rest of this tournament, we need bigger guns."

"What do you plan to get?"

"Unfortunately, all we have are Shermans at Saunders. Our strongest tanks are going to be those with 76 mm or 17-pounders… but maybe with a few tweaks, maybe we can make ourselves a few Jumbos."

"Can you really do that?" Yukari asked.

"It's worth a try," Kay said. "I plan to make a trip back to the Saunder carrier with the Super Galaxy within the next few days. So the Saunder crew and I will miss a few days, but we'll have better tanks and be back for the next match!"

"Kay, I really appreciate that! But don't worry too much about what went wrong during the match. Just do your best, okay?" Miho said.

Kay reverted back to her usual cheerful personality, "Thanks Miho."

"Miporin!" Saori called out within the crowd.

Miho looked over to where the voice came from.

"We best be going!" Yukari said.

"Catch you later, Miho!" Kay said as they departed. Miho and Yukari heading to the area where the rest of Anglerfish were.

A few minutes later, Momo started announcing.

"Alright you lots, listen up!" She shouted. "We won the first round, but this isn't over yet! The next round is against the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment Cadets!"

 _The 3rd RTR cadets…_ Miho thought.

"The last time we fought them, we lost! But we were weak back then, we're a lot stronger now with all of us! So work hard and we'll beat them down this time for sure!"

"Wow, Momo, that's a pretty good speech," Anzu said chewing on a dried sweet potato.

"Huh? Really? I'm getting better at this."

"Your marksmanship still sucks."

"Prez-!"

 _At least everything else is normal_ , Miho thought. Without any unknown factors to worry about now, everything felt… at ease. Somewhat right and usual.

"Alright!" Ami shouted out, "Get your tanks ready within 30 minutes in match formation! If anything is wrong with your tanks, contact us!"

"Yes Ma'am!" The girls replied to Ami.

"Disperse!"

Everyone else moved out. Miho and the rest of Anglerfish made for their Panzer IV in the main garage.

"Everything good in here?" Miho asked the crew as they got into their positions.

"Gun looks fine!" Hana said, checking the fire control system.

"Shells full! Coaxial loaded!" Yukari said.

"Radio seems to be working!" Saori checked the radio equipment to her left.

The Panzer IV's engine started running, as well as its auxiliary engine for the turret. "Tank seems fine," Mako said.

"Alright, Panzer Vor!"

On that day's training, Miho focused more on the offensive prospect of the team. Facing off against the Americans and their heavily armored Jumbos showed that they needed to work on fighting more heavily armored enemy front-on via maneuver. Isolating heavy tanks like the Tiger (P), Black Prince, IS-2, and KV-2, then pitting them against small groups of the other tanks as practice. Learning to maneuver around an enemy formation, pinpointing weak points on the tanks, and anticipating the enemy's targeting strategy.

Ōarai's own student's tanks really have improved over the time in Sensha-Dou. Miho remembers when they all started in their first practice match, everyone barely knew the workings of their tank. Now, each crew member were becoming more competent in their positions. Teams like Hippo learned how to best utilize the StuG III's strength against the opponent. Rabbit is becoming a better team coordinator and on-field commander, almost rivaling Miho's own since the last match. Rabbit has the biggest improvement from first match to the recent one.

Practice went well with Ami coordinating some of the maneuvers on the map and Miho working alongside them on the field. Managing a large team was tough, even Kuromormine had many instructors on site to help her and her sister coordinate training back when she was the vice-commander.

 _Kurormormine…_ Miho's thought brought back that topic. Almost a whole week has passed with no contact with Maho or anyone from Kuromormine. It still remains a total mystery to her, but the tank shells blasting nearby snapped her back to the current times. The people around her needs her right now, she couldn't let them down.

Kuromromine had to wait. She couldn't find anything about that now, nor would she find anything at the time being.

Parking the Panzer IV in the outside near the briefing area, Miho saw some of Hippo team trying out the firearms, supervised by Ami. She saw them, one by one, going at it with an MP40. The one up now was Erwin, firing the submachine gun with the distinctive _Rat-ta-ta-ta_ chopping noise down range at targets. The utility of such weapons is dubious in the tank matches themselves, but if the scouting stories that that Miho has heard are true, preparing for basic self-defense would be a beneficial thing in the worst case scenario.

During their breaks, the crew spent the time out of their tanks, refreshing themselves or just doing simple checks on track tensions to ensure the tracks do not walk off during the exercise. All the other schools here, despite having little stake on Ōarai, were all trying their best. Perhaps they want to uphold their name in Ōarai's efforts in the tournament, but their dedication truly showed how much they wanted to win, even if not under their original school banner.

Pravda and Saunder's crew are more often seen in these break periods or range time due to their extra crew members available with the extra tanks they brought in, Saunders with three more M4 Shermans and Pravda has three more T-34-85s in the garage waiting for deployment. The extra crew members alternate with the active ones in training for maneuvers and gunnery.

Something was different with Pravda's team though… Miho did notice the IS-2 performed a bit differently. Darjeeling was acting commander of the armored tanks during the practice so Miho didn't order the IS-2 directly around. That was when she saw the hatch open and someone climbed out. It wasn't Nonna.

Curious, Miho went over to the Pravda group. Katyusha was there on her T-34-85 drinking from a canteen.

"Mihosha! We did good today, huh?"

"Yes, you did," Miho affirmed. "Where's Nonna?"

"Nonna?" Katyusha said, then sighed, "She's recovering back at the housings."

"Recovering? From what?"

"When we got back from the match, Nonna and her crew were suffering hearing loss, probably from that artillery barrage those damn Americans dropped on us."

"Oh no! Is she going to be alright?"

"The doctor took a look at them and said it wasn't too serious. However, they should stay away from loud noises - like explosions - until their condition improves. At least 16 to 48 hours they said, but they recommend a four-day break with continual check-up for improvements."

"Well, I hope she'll end up fine," Miho expressed concern. Another casualty of the match the other day, and she didn't even know about it until now. "Is there anyone else who's hurt in anyway from the match?"

"Everyone seemed fine, Mihosha. Don't worry about it. Nonna and the others are being taken care of with Ōarai's best care. They just need rest now."

"Okay…" Miho was slightly relieved, but it didn't suit her well that people were hurt because of her commands.

"Anyways, you best be off now. You got more important things to do, right?"

"I suppose, I'll see you later Katyusha!"

"Das Vidania!"

* * *

 **Los Angeles, CA**

Practice ended at 4 PM, and with the time they had left, Anglerfish team figured that can take the time to visit a place in Los Angeles. With a destination pre-planned and funds in hand from the student council, they headed a straight path from the school carrier towards their destination.

Miho and the girls made their way there via a private taxi called in by an app Yukari pulled up. A few minutes of driving got them to what looked like a large warehouse, though with a large sign showing "Panzer Glory".

"The American edition, huh?" Miho said.

"Will it really be that different from the one in Britain?" Saori asked.

"It should be, America is a lot more lax about this kind of thing than Britain. They'd have a free reign of importation." Yukari explained.

"Well, there's only one way to find out…" Miho said as she headed towards the entrance.

The interior was very spacious, interrupting the vast room were large shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling. The large shelves were filled with boxes for the different products the place sells. Ranging from various components for tanks and other accessories related to Tankery. Mechanical forklifts could be heard whirring up and down the aisle, helping workers and customers alike grab the products. In a large open space in the middle of the store, tanks were on display, on sale for willing buyers. A Panzer III Ausf. N, a M4A4 Sherman, and a BT-7 mod. 1937 was on display at the moment, with a sign nearby saying the vehicles cycle every week.

"Well, it's a lot bigger. That's for certain," Mako understatedly says as the girls were in awe at the size of the place.

"Wow, the tanks are that expensive, huh?" Miho said, looking at the price tag hanging off the Panzer III. The Panzer III is arguably the cheaper of the bunch laid out for them and it would still break the school club funds.

"There's always other stuff to look at," Hana said. "I heard from Rabbit team they needed new 75 mm smoke shells for their tank."

"Let's take a look around!" Yukari said ecstatically.

It was quite a walk around the place. It seemed each area had endless amount of stuff one can go through. The girls only had a few hours before the place closes, yet there was still so much to see inside.

"Hey Nishizumi-dono! Look here!" Yukari called out to Miho and the girls.

Yukari had led them to an area donned out with military gear. The most outstanding collection there were the firearms at the ready. MP40, Thompson, PPSH, and other submachine guns were on one rack. Pistols were on another rack, displaying the M1911A1, Walther P38, Luger P08, and various revolvers. Full-scale rifles like Karabiner 98k's, Mosin-Nagant M1891, and Lee-Enfields were also present. But large, bulky rifles took up the majority of a ground space near the rifles.

"What the heck are these rifles here?!" Saori said in surprise towards the over-sized rifles.

"Looks like anti-tank rifles!" Yukari said joyfully. The large rifles on the ground with a sample dummy bullet near them showed their power over the standard rifles. Next to each one were stat cards reading off their capabilities.

"This one can penetrate… 40 mm with standard rounds," Mako read off.

"Eh?! That much power in a man-carried weapon?" Saori said.

"Yeah, but it's really heavy, and it would only penetrate that much in distances less than 100 meters."

"Whaaaat. That's near suicidal next to a tank!"

"Well, people did that in real life. The Soviets and Finnish used it a lot more in the Winter War and World War II."

"Wow, props to them." Saori said in astonishment.

"Well, even if we did get them…" Miho said, "I doubt we'd be able to carry them. This one here, the PTRD, is already 38 pounds."

"I bet I can carry them!" Yukari said with a huff, then reached down with her two arms and carried one up. With slight struggle, she got it in her arms up to chest height. "See?!"

"Wow, Yukari! You've gotten quite strong!" Saori said semi-applauding.

"I think my time as a loader has paid off!"

"Yeah, but you're still our loader, not an anti-tank rifleman," Miho said. "So put that down. The only other people back at Ōarai who can even move this comfortably is Anteater team. Even then, I don't think they'll enjoy the recoil."

"Okay Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari said as she put the heavy rifle down.

The five kept looking at the unique gear there. It was very different from the usual Tankery and Sensha-Dou stuff they've seen, namely due to their lack of relevance in the tank matches. These firearms, clothings, and protections have no utility in a tank fight. Recalling what Emma said, scouting was just another part of the Tankery competition, yet the amount of items here available for sale just proves how big that part of Tankery became in the overall competition.

"But if this is the kind of equipment they can get for scouting, how on earth are we supposed to fight back against them?" Saori asked.

"Maybe we should get a few more stuff…" Miho said.

"Like what?"

"Well, maybe it's time we pick up a few rifles, and machine guns like what Montgomery said during the first purchase."

"Not too many now, we have a limited budget at hand." Hana said.

"Okay, let's see…" Miho said. She thought about her possible purchases. Currently, Ōarai had a sufficient amount of pistols and submachine guns for the personnel. Simple rifles like the Karabiner 98k would be a good choice due to ammo compatibility with the MG 34 on the German vehicles, which Ōarai had a majority of. Some extra MG 34 as spares for the vehicles and standalone variants would also be nice.

So ammo, some rifles, machine guns, and… was there anything else?

"Anything else other than firepower?" Miho asked.

"Hmm… maybe camouflage?" Yukari suggested.

"We wouldn't find the time to put them on to defend from an enemy attack though…" Miho said.

"Well, what about attacking them instead? We would need camouflage to sneak in and attack!"

"The thing is Yukari, I don't see how we can even start scouting against an enemy team. We don't have the manpower, training, or even the transportation to do that."

"So we're really limited in our operational capacity, right?" Saori asked.

"Pretty much," Miho confirmed.

Yukari sighed, "Oh well…"

"I wonder how's the tournament doing right now…" Saori said.

"Let me check," Yukari said pulling out her smartphone. "Today was the fifth match of the tournament row… so it was Nankai High School against Phalanx Academy! Looks like Phalanx managed to win!"

"Wait, what about yesterday's match? We were so caught up with the events we never checked it out." Saori said.

"So yesterday's match, well let's see..." Yukari said, flipping through her phone screen. "Okay, so it was the 500th Young Lion Brigade against Hamina Armored Institution. Looks like Hamina was victorious!"

"Which countries are they from?" Saori asked.

"The 500th Young Lion Brigade is from Israel, a cadet system like the ACA. Hamina is from Finland, looks like a private higher education."

"So with Hamina won, they're against that Russian school that won the other day, right?" Hana said.

"Looks like it. Hamina will be against the Suvorov Military School Armored Cadets."

"Sounds interesting… I wonder who will win?"

"Either way, let's worry about our next match first, girls," Miho said as she was writing down a purchase list.

In another part of the store, there were accessories meant to improve or customize a tank. Some of the items available reminded Miho of the first time the Ōarai team attempted at customizing their tanks, but there were some more practical items as well. It ranged from fuel containers racks, track link hooks, and camo nets.

"Do we really need some of these…?" Saori asked.

"It's more of a personal taste here, but some of these things you can't find on the Ōarai carrier…" Miho said, eyeing some of the objects.

"Maybe the camo net?" Yukari suggested.

"Hmm…" Miho thought about it.

"Just buy it in bulks with the rest of the stuff we're going to get."

"Right, well, let's see what else there is." Miho stated. She wasn't sure about it at the moment.

The time passed as they browsed the large warehouse and 20 minutes remained until closing time by the time they realized it. Night has descended upon the city as the five made their final check.

"Okay, so what do we have?" Saori asked.

"Well, let's see…" Miho said looking at the small list she's written up. "Three MG 34 machine guns, eight Karabiner 98k rifles, and camo nets for four tanks."

"Do we really need all that?" Hana asked, making sure Miho isn't impulse buying.

"Well, we could always buy more…"

"I think that's enough for the time being, we can always get more later," Saori said.

"Maybe some more camo nets?" Yukari suggested. "It may be useful in a forest setting next…"

"Yeah, maybe we should get a few more of those," Miho said.

"Oh boy…" Saori said. "This is gonna take a chip in our funds, huh?"

"Most likely." Miho said.

A phone call came in for Miho, her phone's ringtone coming from her handbag. Flipping open the phone, she sees the number is from the student council president.

"Hello?" Miho answered.

" _Hey Miho, how's shopping?_ " Anzu asked on the other end.

"Great, we're almost done here."

" _Good! I got some news on our next match location already."_

"Isn't our match going to be next week still? We still got about five days after today." Miho asked.

" _I guess they have to reserve the area ahead of time and that. Anyways, our next location is in a forest in Quebec._ "

"F-forest? In Quebec?"

" _Yep, grid coordinates direct us straight there. It's connected by rail though, so arrival should be the same like the match here. We'll be leaving tomorrow so make sure you get back!"_

"O-okay. Thanks for the heads-up!"

" _Don't mention it!_ " Anzu said before hanging up.

The girls looked at the list one more time.

"So… uh, forest, huh?" Yukari said.

"Guess we're going to need more camo nets…"

The girls purchased the necessary items with enough camo nets for ten tanks to use. With the firearms, nets, and smoke shells on the order for delivery, the girls left the shop and headed back to the carrier.

"Another enlightening experience!" Yukari said as the girls waited for their ride to take them back.

"With the stuff we purchased, it really showed how little prepared we are for the Tankery community, isn't it?" Hana said.

"Yeah," Miho said, holding the order receipt. "But it's better we prepare now than be overwhelmed later."

"It'd be really nice to have an idea on what the Montgomery and the other cadets plans to bring to the fight though," Yukari said.

"Well, even if I wanted to scout, there is an ocean in the middle between us and them. It'll be hard just to even get there," Miho said.

"I know, but, I felt like we're just going into this blind, worse than against the Americans."

"We fought them before, right? It shouldn't be too different than their standard formation last time!" Saori said.

"Yeah, but if you recall what Kay said and what we saw at the match, we'll be against something even tougher!" Yukari said.

"Yes, but we don't have any resources to help us with that…" Miho said.

Yukari sighed in defeat, "It'd be nice though."

"Our ride is here," Hana offhandedly said. The van approaching to pick them up.

"We'll talk about this some other time," Miho said.

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment - Ōarai Girl's High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho was up until midnight assessing the Ōarai Compound team and the equipment they have. Ōarai's original tank still consisted of the Panzer IV Ausf. H, Type 89 I-Go, StuG III Ausf. F, M3 Lee, Jagdpanzer 38(t) "Hetzer", Char B1 bis, Type 3 Chi-Nu, and the Tiger Porsche. The other team's tank made up the majority of the team. St. Gloriana has their Black Prince, a Churchill , and three Cromwells. Saunders has one Sherman Firefly, one M4A1 (76) W Sherman, and a few 75 mm M4 Sherman, but if Kay is intent on replacing them, this will change soon. Anzio has the P40, Semovente, and the L3/33 tankette. Pravda has their IS-2, KV-2, and two T-34-85 with few more in the garage for extra numbers. Continuation has their BT-42 and KV-1, and Chi-Ha-Tan has a single Type 95 Ha-Go next to their more numerous Type 97 Chi-Ha's.

They had little room for upgrades, aside from Saunder's plan at the moment. Chi-Ha-Tan doesn't have many tanks to go towards, Continuation is strapped on funds like Anzio. St. Gloriana already improved and Pravda is already running some of the best tanks of the Sensha-Dou league with their late-war Soviet tanks.

The disparity among the different tank classes and design specifications make Ōarai Compound Team a very unique design. Tactics is the most important tool here, and the one rule of tank battle still wins out. "Whoever shoots first, tends to win first."

Now another thing she has to worry about is the small arms, ranging from the pistols and machine guns Ōarai will soon own. Their investment will only work in the long run if someone ends up actually attacking Ōarai. But, with their problems just trying to get to another country to attempt a scout, how would the other team even attempt to find where Ōarai carrier was an launch their own scouting party? What if all this training turn out for naught?

Miho yawned. It's been a long day, even for a daily routine. The changing time zones from Japan, Britain, and America had messed with her sleeping schedule. The school sends out a recommended time to sleep and wake every night judging from its location in the world and its destination, so the residents on board would be able to maximize their time awake in the day. It still takes its toll though, and Miho was feeling it.

She staggered from her desk to her bed, turning the lights off on the way and crumbled onto her soft mattress. So many problems, so many things to worry about, and she was a bit tired of it for now. "Morning is wiser than the evening" as a saying she heard goes.

She soon found herself asleep as the moonlight shone in from her room window. She didn't hear the carrier's departure from the docks as anchors rose and loading areas disconnect. The engine revving up as the large motors propel the ship forwards.

With all that, even awake, she wouldn't have heard the lone helicopter coming over the carrier that night.

* * *

Miho didn't notice anything different the next day. The carrier was on its way south just like Anzu told her. Making their way around the South American tip to make their way to the Atlantic Ocean. Going through the Panama Canal would have been great, but the school carrier was way too big for that.

Still, with five days to go, there was plenty of time for the school carrier to make that journey. Even with the time zone changes, high school carried out just as usual.

Once again, dismissed at lunch, she made her way down to the garage, this time with Saori and Hana.

"Nishizumi-do-!"

Miho turned around and caught Yukari this time, "Hi, Yukari."

"Aw," Yukari said rather disappointed. "Oh well, so today's another day of practice!"

"I hope so!" Miho said. "There's also the case of learning to use the new things we got yesterday as well."

"The delivery came already?" Hana asked.

"That's what the student council president told me," Miho said, remembering a text message she woke up to. "But, there was something else in her text…"

"What?" Saori asked.

"'Prepare for a surprise' and a winky face," Miho said as her friends looked at that statement weirdly.

"Like what?" Saori said. "A hot guy?"

"I-I don't know."

"I suppose there's only one way to find out, right?" Hana said.

"Yeah! Let's head to the garage!" Yukari shouted gleefully, glomping Miho this time. Miho struggled with the new weight on her as Saori and Hana giggled at this interaction.

As the girls got outside towards the garage, they noticed a change in the scenery. A large vehicle was parked on the side of the main briefing area. The small crowd of schoolgirls was already there taking an interest in it.

"Is that...a UH-60 Black Hawk?" Yukari said, making out its color and shape.

"What's that?" Saori asked.

"A U.S. utility helicopter…" Miho said. "What's an American helicopter doing here?"

The girls ran up towards the area. Some of the Sensha-Dou members were there gazing at the helicopter, as if it was delivering a celebrity. Though the helicopter looks like it's been here for some time already.

"Miho!" Someone called out. It was Sodoko. "Is this anything of your doing?"

"No, I don't even know what this is about," Miho reassured.

"Wow, what a crowd!" Kay's voice was heard behind Miho.

"Kay! Is this yours?" Miho asked.

"Huh?" Kay was also surprised by that. "Well, we do have a few Black Hawks in our inventory, but this one isn't ours."

"Whose helicopter then? The student council's?" Miho said, even if there was pretty much no possibility that it was the case.

"Everyone! Gather around, please!" Ami was heard calling out for them. The crowd dispersed from the Black Hawk and gathered in the briefing area in front of the main garage.

"Listen up!" Momo took over, "We've got details on the next match now. Our match against the British 3rd RTR cadets will take place in a forest region in Quebec!"

"Forest?!" Someone in the crowd cried out. Miho looked, but couldn't pinpoint the voice.

"Uh, anyways," Momo continued. "Everyone do your best! No slacking off, got it!?"

"Right!"

"Also," Anzu started talking, "We also have some visitors who's volunteered to help us in Tankery."

 _More instructors?_ Miho thought.

"If she'd like to introduce herself, please welcome her!" Anzu said stepping away from the center of the stage. A few meters in front of where everyone's gathered, from the main garage holding Ōarai's tanks, a woman walked out with two other girls with her.

She along with her companions were wearing the Ōarai school uniform, but there was no mistaking on her physical features.

"Isabelle?" Miho recognized the woman. Despite the new look and sudden appearance, her serious personality and aura was still present since the hospital two days ago.

"Hello everyone," She said to the crowd. "I'm Isabelle Bradley. You may have remembered me as one of the contestant on the American Cadet Alliance you were against the other day, but the ACA has decided to invest its efforts in making sure you all will not fall behind in the World Tournament."

The crowd talked and chatted about this surprising circumstance.

"Isabelle and her two companions are 'advisers' sent by the ACA to assist in our practice routines," Anzu explained. "They'll be here to help us on skill training ranging from tank performances, gunnery, and firearm practices."

Miho looked on at the new situation. _Was this something of Daniel's doing?_ She thought. The ACA has no real business meddling with Ōarai's affairs. Did Daniel simply not trust their capabilities? Either way, Miho wasn't ready to complain. More field instructors would help ease the training process for the Ōarai team.

"Allow me to introduce my two comrades. These two are also the pilot of the Black Hawk helicopter you were all looking at earlier," Isabelle said gesturing towards her two female companions.

The one to her left spoke first. "I'm Sergeant Kyline Lee. I was the head of the tank destroyer company you faced in the match. I admit I made mistakes during the match against you, but I'm willing to do all I can to help you out if you will allow me."

Then the right. "I'm Sergeant Helena Hawkins. I'm the pilot of the Black Hawk and I'm not well versed in tankery, but I'm well trained with firearms and equipments, so you can count on me for the miscellaneous stuff."

"We all look forwards to assisting you!" The three Americans said.

"L-Let's have a good time together!" Miho nervously said. This whole thing was just out of nowhere, but she was grateful for this outcome. Two experienced tanker and some instructors of other aspects of Tankery? This was almost a god send for Ōarai.

"Alright, get to your posts!" Ami shouted out.

"Yeah!" The schoolgirls present cried out as they headed to their tanks. Miho approached the Americans instead, with Yukari following suit once she noticed her commander wasn't heading straight for the Panzer IV.

"Isabelle!" Miho said in a greeting tone.

"Hello Miho," Isabelle looked at her.

 _She really is tall_ , Miho thought. Almost a good head taller than Miho in fact. "Did you really come out all this way to help us?"

"I believed that's what we said earlier, yes," Isabelle said.

"But, why? You three don't have any business or stakes with us other than we beat you."

"So? You have students from six different schools in your team and they're not complaining. I don't see anything wrong with coming to help you out however we could."

"Are you even allowed to be here?" Miho asked. "I thought the League had rules against registered members joining other teams?"

"Shh, here's the thing, Miho. We're 'advisers' here, not participants. As long as we don't enter the matches, we'll be fine here."

"Did Daniel send you to do this?"

Isabelle just patted Miho on the head with a small smirk. "Just take this as an I.O.U., okay? If you win this tournament, you'll make our efforts here worth it."

"O-okay," Miho said, deciding to drop that issue.

"Isabelle! What are you going to teach us?" Yukari said loudly.

"Well…" Isabelle said, looking at all the tanks Ōarai had on hands. "I think let's first see how well you do on your own, then I can allocate my girls to whichever needs working on."

"I think we'll need help on the firing range," Miho said. "Ami's the only one helping the rest of the team get acquainted with the League firearms and it's been going slowly."

"Hah! Dibs!" Hawkins cried out as her hand shot up.

"I suppose you'll need a good understanding on the firearms, yes," Isabelle contemplated, "to defend against scouts, hmm?"

"Yes!"

"But it's a shame that we can't launch any of our own scouting expedition…" Yukari complained. "Man, I wanted to go on one to see how it plays out."

Isabelle seemed to have taken an interest on Yukari's words. "It's best to start with the basics though, so one by one, okay?"

"Alright!"

"We'll be getting to our tanks now, Isabelle. Tell me anything you want to say over the radio by Ami!"

"Yes! Um, Ami is that JSDF woman, right?" Isabelle asked.

"Yeah, she's well trained and got us started in Sensha-Dou since we began!" Yukari said.

"Must be a talented practitioner, I'll keep an eye out for her," Isabelle said.

"We'll be going off now!" Miho said. Isabelle waved the two goodbye.

The duo got to the Panzer IV, where they saw the rest of the team prepping the tank the best they could.

"What do you think about the new instructors?" Saori asked.

"I think they're going to be a very useful asset for us," Miho said.

"Isn't it a bit suspicious though that they just decided to turnaround and help us like that? We did do some things to them."

"'Keep your friends close, and enemies closer', right?" Yukari said.

"Either way, I think it's best we follow along what they have to say. It's a bit like Montgomery, we're going to need help from people who know a lot about Tankery to help us get through this."

"Alright then, Miho," Saori said.

Miho climbed up into her commander position on the Panzer IV. Everyone else's tanks were getting ready for another day of activity.

"Can everyone read me?" Miho said through her radio.

"Yep!"

"Loud and clear!" The replies came in.

"Okay, Panzer Vor!"

The practice went more smoothly than usual. With the American cadets helping Ami coordinating the practice, a lot of the workload was eased. Isabelle on the radio also gives helpful advice on improving the tank performances, radioing in to Miho on what team needed to improve and what aspect they were lacking.

Back near the briefing areas where the teams switch out, Miho saw Sergeant Lee helping the Rabbit, Hippo, and Turtle team on how to apply the camo nets onto their tanks, plus things they could add onto it for increased.

Over at the firing range, Sergeant Hawkins was helping some Saunder crews practice firing their M1 Thompsons that they brought in. The Saunder students already made a good portion of the Ōarai team's manpower next to Pravda, making them perhaps the main force that will be defending Ōarai if an scouting ever occurred.

As Miho took a drink out of her canteen outside of the Panzer IV during one of their breaks, she looked over to Isabelle's location on the tower. Isabelle was working rather hard for something so abstract. All this for Ōarai's victory? Miho noticed that Isabelle was talking with someone else up there.

Yukari had made her way up there. She said she needed to be excused for a bit, Miho didn't imagine it was to meet with Isabelle. It was a curious thing to see.

"What do you think she's up there for?" Hana asked.

"Probably talking about military stuff with her," Saori said. "You know here, just like usual."

"Maybe…" Miho said. It wasn't that hard to assume. Yukari's body language was the most expressive of the girls. Miho watched up there as Yukari gave emotions of glee, shock, and surprise. Whatever they were talking about up there, it had snagged Yukari's attention.

As the tank cannons fire in the distant at targets and gun fire blast away and steel targets, the Ōarai compound team seems to be becoming a little bit more in tune with the Tankery community. They started off as total strangers, but with the connections they've made, Ōarai is just one step closer to winning it on the international scale.

Miho smiled at the irony of her situation. Last year she came to Ōarai to escape Sensha-Dou. Now she was in the heart of the whole world's version of Tankery. Such a complete turn around, and it was all because of her.

"Life's just funny sometimes, huh?" Miho said.

"What?" Saori asked.

"N-nothing," Miho said, putting away the canteen. "Let's get back to work, girls."

"Right!"

* * *

 **This chapter was a bit troublesome to write. I didn't find the same motivation as I did when writing the tank fight scenes. But before I knew it, this has become one of my longest chapter as of recent so there's that.**

 **It's probably finals time for those of you that got school still, right? I want to wish anyone who still got finals ahead of them, good luck! Thanks for reading my story and I hope it was a good break from your studies!**

 **Thanks for all the support! Feel free to Follow and Favorite this story if you want to see more of this fic! I also appreciate any review you're willing to drop, so don't be afraid to speak your mind!**

 **See you all next week!**


	13. Prowling Puma

_**Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 13: Prowling Puma**

 **Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho woke up late for school, rushing out her apartment and slamming her door shut.

"Ah!" Miho realized something as she ran down the stairs and came back, locking her apartment door before departing again.

A year on the Ōarai carrier and she still has some clumsy habits.

Miho hurriedly walked down the road towards the high school. Passing by the diners, convenience stores, and bakeries on the way. She still took the time whiffed the air of the fragrance of pastries and dishes of the various shops. It put her mind at ease to be at something… normal. For a relative term of normal at least.

"Good morning, Miporin!" Saori's nickname for Miho was heard, a voice she didn't expect at this time, but a sense of strain and struggle was heard in her voice. Miho looked back and saw her coming, dragging a large blob of hair. The blob groaned as it was dragged on Saori's left shoulder, and Miho saw it was an extremely sleepy Mako.

"Good morning Saori, good morning Mako," Miho said, trying not to laugh at this ridiculous situation.

"Can you please help me with this sleepyhead?!" Saori shouted in desperation. Miho made her way over and hoisted Mako on her right shoulder. Mako was fast asleep, unresponsive to their actions. The shaking and dragging has not stirred her a bit.

"What happened to her?" Miho asked.

"These friggin' time zones have been making her sleep life miserable. She tried her best the last few days, but I think her body has taken its toll."

"Should we even be dragging her then?" Miho asked.

Saori looked at Miho as if dumbfounded. "I dunno, this has became such an everyday occurrence I never gave a thought…"

The two girls and their power napping friend stood idly on the sidewalk as they thought about the situation. A biker passed by, bells jingling.

"Well…" Miho wanted to make a sentence, but the scenario was just plain absurd. "We're almost at the school, it'd be too late to take her back."

"Yeah, let's just drop her off at the nurse's office," Saori agreed.

* * *

After dragging Mako to the nurse's office and freaking the nurse out, Miho and Saori headed back to the class. When they arrived at the home room, Hana was already there. "You two are late," she said bluntly.

"Yep, we are," Saori said.

Miho chuckled lightly at their predicament. With their practice schedule, they'll be out in only a few hours.

"Don't slack off on your studies though. It's unfortunate that we still have school despite the tournament, but we're all still students," Hana said.

"Geez, you're sounding like our mother or something," Saori said.

The girls all laughed at that as their homeroom teacher came in. "Alright, lesson is starting. I see the two latecomers have arrived."

"Y-Yes!" Miho and Saori answered before the class began as usual.

Once the lunch bell rings, the three were already walking down the hallways and heading towards the Sensha-Dou field.

"Isabelle is quite a great helper, huh?" Hana said.

"Yeah, she's knowledgeable on tactics, gives great advice, and her two other cadets are great instructors on their field!" Miho said. Their presence here really helped accelerate the training of the Ōarai compound team.

"You think Mako is going to be awake by the time we get there?" Saori asked.

"We can't be so sure, you know Mako," Hana said. "Maybe we should make an alarm clock based on tank noises."

"I tried that once, she didn't like it," Saori said. "She claimed she was going to have a heart attack if that continued."

Miho laughed at that, but felt there was something missing in the hallway as they were walking on. A short distance later, she turned to look behind her.

"Miho? What's wrong?" Hana asked.

"Oh, um, usually Yukari would be here, right?" Miho said.

"Yeah, and?"

"She'd try to pounce on me from behind, like the last two days…" Miho said.

"Maybe she's already moved on ahead to surprise you from another place?" Saori said. "You caught her yesterday, remember?"

"Yeah… maybe I'm just overthinking it," Miho said.

"Right, let's go!" Saori said as the trio continued to the tank field.

Approaching the tank field, they noticed the usual crowd of the school girls showing up for practice was a lot smaller than usual. Miho wanted to pass it off as just them being early, but a certain demographic was noticeably missing.

Saunders.

"What's up with that?" Saori asked once Miho made that discrepancy clear.

"Well," Miho said, "they did say that they wanted to fly back to the carrier to get better tanks, I guess today was the day they wanted to."

"Hey, the American's helicopter is missing too!" Saori pointed out.

"Huh?!" Miho looked towards the direction Saori was pointing, at the general area the helicopter was at yesterday. It truly was gone.

"Maybe they just found a better parking place?" Hana suggested.

The trio got closer to the group present, mainly Ōarai students and some from Pravda. Some of them were asking advices from the instructors present on their Tankery skills. Only Ami and that American cadet, Kyline Lee, were present.

"They should all be here if one of them is…" Miho thought about it. The missing helicopter, Saunders, just… what?

Miho made her way into the crowd, brushing past students, some saying their greetings but Miho was trying to get to the instructors.

"Miho! How are you?" Ami said towards Miho.

"I'm fine, instructor Ami," Miho explained. "Where is Isabelle?"

"Isabelle? She left along with Hawkins." Kyline said, buttinginto the conversation upon hearing that name.

"What?" Miho asked.

"She went along with Saunders when they left this morning on the Galaxy."

"What about the helicopter? Your Black Hawk?" Miho continued.

"Black Jay? Loaded up into the Galaxy," Kyline explained nonchalantly. "It's rather amazing how many stuff you can put inside the C-5M Super Galaxy. Three Shermans and the Black Hawk are in that plane last time I saw it."

 _Wait, why do they need a helicopter with their plane?!_ Miho thought frantically. "Wait, if the other cadet, Hawkins, is with Isabelle. Why are you here?"

"Oh, turns out one of the Saunder kids actually knows how to co-pilot a Black Hawk! Can you believe that? They didn't need me so I elected to stay behind to supervise your training."

 _So they're taking the helicopter to be use it?!_ Miho couldn't think straight. Her mind racing like a detective being thrown clue after clue. The helicopter going with Saunders on their plane was a strange thing, but adding that with Saunder's plane was going towards their school carrier somewhere on the other side of the world now. If they need to use the helicopter, they need to land and... with a good half of the world now at their finger tips...

"Wait, where's Yukari?!"

* * *

 **Airspace - Outskirts of Bovington, Britain**

The hard rain of the night sky poured down on the spinning rotor blades of the UH-60 Black Hawk "Black Jay". Each contact on the blades sent the droplets spinning in various directions and velocity, some splattering on the windows of the sliding doors of the helicopter's fuselage.

Flying about 750 feet above the ground, Black Jay made steady progress towards the objective. The pilot and co-pilot fumbled with the different devices and switches needed to maintain the Black Hawk's instrumental navigation in this terrible weather.

Inside the passenger area, two ladies were present for this operation. Isabelle sat on one set of chairs, checking her comms over and over again to ensure working order. The other was putting on some of the gear that the ACA brought into Ōarai. No privacy inside the Black Hawk as she changed out of her clothes into the suit.

"That was some ride, huh?" Yukari asked the crew through her comms, trying to break the awkwardness as she closed up one last zipper.

" _In all honestly, you two lot made it all rushed!"_ Alisa said from the co-pilot seat. " _It was supposed to be a straight flight from Ōarai to Saunders carrier. But then you brought up this stupid operation of yours._ "

" _This 'stupid operation' is one for the playbooks. No one has done this kind of scouting before,"_ Isabelle said. Though the space between them was short, the sound of the helicopter made the comms necessary to even hear each other.

" _Did you know how hard it was to explain to the control tower at Southampton Airport on what purpose a C-5M Super Galaxy from Japan had landing on British territory whilst carrying a U.S. utility helicopter?!"_ Alisa screamed through the comms. _"It wasn't easy!"_

Isabelle chuckled at that thought. " _So Yukari, how does it fit?"_

"It's a bit… hard to move in," Yukari said.

Isabelle made a small chuckle, " _That's our prototype model: S.B.S. Mk.I. Well, we say prototype, but it's really an experimental model. It's a glorified scuba suit fitted for tight insulation on the user's body, meant to keep in heat and moisture depending on the environment. The material for the suit, boot, and gear are made of fiber that softens the noise it makes on contact."_

"Uh…"

" _Basically, you can run and put your palms on stuff and it wouldn't create as much noise."_

"Oh, wow. Is it really alright for me to use this?" Yukari asked.

" _Don't worry. This first model was the Ordnance people's attempt at a DIY project. An expensive DIY project, but anyone can pretty much make the same thing with the right material and dedication. Nothing on it is classified, only patented."_

"I feel like a video game character with all this on…" Yukari says. The suit was not too heavy, and was quite thin layer-wise. Despite that, the suit has indeed kept her body heat insulated, as Yukari was quite warm despite the weather outside. "So we really got confirmation from the International League to conduct this scouting?"

" _Yes, in fact, that confirmation was the only thing allowing us to land at the airport in the first place._ " Isabelle said.

* * *

 **Yesterday - Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

On the tower overlooking the tank field of Ōarai, Yukari found herself in a great conversation with the American cadet Isabelle Bradley.

Isabelle was very knowledgeable about the various military equipment and tactics there were in the field of Tankery. The two shared information back and forth as Yukari told Isabelle what she knew about Sensha-Dou and the other about Tankery.

"So the two prominent schools in Sensha-Dou is the Nishizumi and Shimada style?" Isabelle asked her.

"Yes! Both are very fierce and committed to their fighting styles!"

"Does the same apply to Miho Nishizumi down there?" Isabelle asked, gesturing to the commander of the Ōarai compound team on her Panzer IV.

"She's… got a rough history with her family," Yukari said as of matter of fact. "Right now, she's paving her way to make her own style of Sensha-Dou."

"Making her own, huh? That must be nice."

"Yes, and we're all helping her make that a reality!" Yukari said. "This World Tournament is another stepping stone for us to help Nishizumi-dono achieve that!"

"N-nishizumi-dono?" Isabelle said, not familiar with some of the Japanese lingo. "Well, I'm sure you'll be able to achieve that."

"It's just that… the world's style of Sensha-Dou, Tankery, is a lot different than any of us imagined. It's just so out of our league…"

"Didn't Ōarai go through the same things during the Japanese nationals last year?" Isabelle asked.

"Yeah, but… we had more equal sittings even if we're outnumbered. Tanks were limited to a maximum of 20 even in the finals, with only 10 in the first rounds. Scouting was easy, since our opponents were all school, I just have to costume myself in their uniform and it is pretty easy after that…"

Isabelle seemed to have taken an interest in Yukari's statement in her scouting method.

Yukari sighed, "If only we could scout out the enemy, we would have a better tactical advantage in the matches…"

Isabelle took a swig out of her canteen of water on this statement.

"Oh well… we just have to try out best on the information we got from our practice match."

"There is _one_ way you girls can do this…" Isabelle offhandedly mentioned.

"Huh?" Yukari looked at Isabelle.

"There is a way, an insane way, that you girls can have a chance at scouting the enemy."

"H-How?"

"Solo infiltration."

Yukari heard the words and her mind made sense of what she heard. "Infiltrate the facility… alone?"

"Yes, as I said, insane."

"Do you believe this is the only way?" Yukari asked.

"It is the only method I could possibly support." Isabelle said. "I brought along gears on the Black hawk for this kind of experiment, but…"

"But?"

"No one in the cadets have ever taken the idea seriously. The concept came about during the 60's. Today, with the new specialization of special forces to a more combined-arms oriented form of combat, the solo infiltration concept had fallen out of favor."

"An insane method…" Yukari restated the words.

"It's only for those crazy enough to try it, we have no basis on its actual utility."

"If that's the only way we can do this…" Yukari said, "I'll do it!"

"What?"

"I said I will give it a go!"

"You're kidding, right? Highly trained soldiers today have no faith in this form of operation. You're just a high school student, Yukari."

"Isabelle, I may not be as tough as you military cadets, but I'm pretty strong in my own rights," Yukari said, doing a small bicep flex.

Isabelle looked at Yukari with a face of dumbfoundedness. She then chuckled. "Yukari, you're an insane SOB you know that?"

"I've never been that normal of a schoolgirl to begin with," Yukari said with a renewed sense of confidence.

"Alright, alright Yukari, I get it," Isabelle conceded. "I can handle most of the operational preparation, but there is one problem standing in our way."

"What?"

Isabelle pointed out towards the ocean horizon, "The Atlantic Ocean."

Yukari looked over the tower out to the endless view of the ocean.

"That's right, the ACA only have a helicopter on hand for travel. Our Black Hawk doesn't have the range to even make a significant distance across the ocean," Isabelle said.

Yukari thought about it, at their location now in the southern hemisphere, it'd be a long way if they wanted to go to Britain.

They needed a high performance aircraft capable of carrying them all the way there…

 _Wait…_ Yukari realized. _Only one vehicle on this school carrier has anything like that._ "I think I got our ride."

"Huh?"

"Just give me a moment!" Yukari told Isabelle as she started heading down the tower.

* * *

 **Present Time - Airspace - Outskirts of Bovington, Britain**

" _It was_ so _much trouble getting that Black Hawk in and then out of our Galaxy once we landed! Isn't there an easier way we could've done that?!"_ Alisa said. She was evidently cranky from the 14-hour straight flight from the ocean area near Argentina all the way to Southampton Airport, Britain.

" _Can it, Alisa. Focus on flying. We're already here, might as well make the most of it,"_ Isabelle said before turning her attention to Yukari, who was clipping on belts and a load bearing gear to hold various items. " _When you get down there, this weapon will probably be your best friend._ "

Yukari looked at Isabelle and saw her extending her arm out towards her with a weapon in-hand. It was a pistol, something similar to the ones Yukari saw in the "Panzer Glory" store the other day. But this one looked a bit stream-lined, like something out of a sci-fi fantasy moviel. It didn't look like a World War II pistol.

"What's this?" Yukari asked, taking the pistol in hand. She handled it like she held the Walther P-38 pistol. It was slightly more complicated and… strange.

" _This is officially called the D.S. 1027, but I like to call it 'Night night'."_

"'Night, night?'"

" _It's a tranquilizer gun, Yukari. Thing was built by our ordnance people too, and it's optimized not against animals like big games or livestock, but against humans."_

"Is this safe? Legal to use?" Yukari was concerned. She'd imagine receiving something like a silenced pistol to use, but she got herself what was arguably a chemical weapon.

" _Oh it's safe, trust me, we tried it on a lot of different people. Young, old, and the such. We haven't found anyone with an allergic reaction to the content of the tranquilizer. Overdosage is rare too. I don't know the detail, but apparently the drug is quite flexible in a single dose. One or two shot is probably enough to set someone to dreamland once it starts circulating in the blood._ "

"Huh…" Yukari said as she inspected the D.S. 1027.

" _The gun operates on a manually-operated slide system,"_ Isabelle said as she reached over and showed Yukari how to cock the slide. " _The darts come in magazine containing ten rounds and each are propelled via gunpowder to maximize range and effectiveness on skin or thin clothes layer. That's why it comes with an integral suppressor to subdue the gunpowder flash and noise report. After each round fired, you'd have to cycle the slide yourself to load the next one."_

"Isn't this kind of… impractical?" Yukari said as she loaded a magazine into the tranquilizer gun.

" _This is your last resort weapon. You're better off not getting the enemy's attention at all. Try to gather your intel without stirring up the entire base._ _This is an infiltration, not a raid."_

"Alright…" Yukari said, still uncomfortable.

" _5 minutes!_ " Black Jay's pilot, Hawkins, said through the comms as they approached their target.

" _Once you get on the ground, you're on your own,_ " Isabelle said. " _If you get caught, there's nothing you can do but simply wait until the British take you back to Ōarai at the day of the match in an, well, prisoner exchange."_

 _That's assuring_ , Yukari thought.

" _Don't worry, we can give support from up in the air via reconnaissance and advices._ "

"Got it," Yukari said. She felt her blood pumping as the Black Hawk made a swing to the right.

" _Nervous?_ " Isabelle asked.

"Yeah…" Yukari said. "I've never done this kind of thing before…"

" _Well, if you mess up, it just might be the last time we do this._ _So just stay calm and carry out your objective._ "

"Can you recount the objectives for me, please?" Yukari asked. "Everything's still processing and I'm not certain I got it all right in my head."

Isabelle smiled at her enthusiasm, and began the operation briefing, " _In four days, Ōarai will be in a match against the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment cadets of the British Army. You're objective is to infiltrate the 3rd RTR cadet's home base, the Bovington Training Camp, and obtain intel on what equipment they will take to the match. We will be landing you on the west side of the base. This weather is expected to last until dawn and will cover the deployment and extraction from being spotted. Once you've landed, you will make your way on foot towards the base."_

Yukari nodded as she confirmed her understanding of the operation. "Okay… I think I got it."

" _Good._ "

" _One minute!_ " Hawkins interrupted.

" _Alright, get ready,"_ Isabelle said.

Yukari stood up, the suit on her weighed down on her with the various gear attached. She headed towards the fuselage area with the sliding doors. She took off the heavy helicopter headset she's been using and putting an earpiece on her left, connecting to a radio device strapped on the gear just above her left breast.

She checked the holster on her right, the tranquilizer in place. Her heart pumped heavily on her chest as she looked out the sliding door windows. Outside she could see the light of the camp that the 3rd RTR calls home. The light also showed the large size of the camp. She gulped out of nervousness, suddenly she felt as if maybe she was over her head at the moment.

The helicopter lurched backwards quickly, nearly throwing Yukari off balance as she felt the inertia play in when the helicopter came to a halt as it lowered itself to the ground. What little light came from the chopper illuminated the ground.

Yukari opened the door, dragging it to the right and it swung open. The wind and rain violently entered the opening of the helicopter, covering Yukari's senses. She stepped forward and dropped out of the helicopter. The weight of her equipment and the height she was dropped off had her brace as she landed hard. The ground, muddy from the rain, squished as her boots and hands plant on it to absorb the gravity force.

" _Be careful down there!_ " Isabelle said through the comms as the Black Hawk ascended out of the area.

Yukari took a few deep breaths, and looked up. She was landed in the middle of the forest. The only sound all around her was the peppering rain, but she got up, standing on the sinking mud. She quickly moved to the cover in the woods behind a tree. Taking her radio system, she manipulated the simple controls. It consisted of only a small turn-knob for a set amount of frequencies and a button to send on the ear piece.

Yukari felt around her body, looking for the radio device. Feeling it, she twisted the knob, feeling distinctive clicks for each preset frequency set up, with additionals to spare. She returned the knob to its original position, and pressed the button on her ear piece.

"This is Yukari. Isabelle, can you hear me?" She said.

" _Loud and clear. What's the situation, Yukari?"_ Isabelle came through.

"Seems like you dropped me off in the middle of a forest…" Yukari said.

" _If you move forwards in the direction we dropped you off, you should end up on the outskirts of the base."_

"Alright, I'll let you know if I got eyes on the base," Yukari said.

" _Roger, out."_

Yukari looked around the tree, nothing around the area. Deducing it was safe, she made her way forward through the forest.

Endless tree trunks were in front, the darkness cast from the trees had her blindly trace her way through with her hands, trying not to fumble. As the trees thin, the light became clearer. It became blinding to her adjusted eyes when she made it to the clearing of the Bovington Training Camp.

The large facility seemed to glow with the light it made in comparison to the woods. As Yukari's vision adjusts to this, she could make out various security measures. Fences, towers, patrolling guards, in the distance made up the base territory.

Yukari got back to her mic. "This is Yukari, I'm currently outside the base."

" _Excellent Yukari. What do you see?"_

"I can see large fences surrounding the facility."

" _You're going to have to find a way to get in. Look for gaps in the barrier to get through."_

"Got it."

" _Remember, this is a solo infiltration, in other words a sneaking mission. Make sure nobody sees you or it's going to get messy."_

"Got it, okay, I'm ready to go."

" _As I said earlier, we'll be monitoring your situation from the air. Contact me if you can get through the barriers, otherwise there's no point in continuing. Out,_ " Isabelle said.

Releasing her finger from the send button, she reached for one of the larger pouches on her gear and pulled out a binocular. She looked closely onto the base property

 _Wow, I'm looking right into a British military installation…_ Yukari thought of her situation. In any other situation, what she was going was espionage. The thought of that was exhilarating!

Down on the base, it was a large open space between the fence on the side she is now, and the row of buildings on the right and far side of the base from her location. Some towers were up, and the light beams moved.

"Searchlights, huh?" Yukari said to herself, though she could barely hear her own thoughts in the incessant rain. She got up and got closer to the fences, staying low to the ground and avoiding brightly lit areas. Sometimes the light got a bit brighter as a searchlight in the distance pass by and Yukari darted to cover, even if it was unlikely the searchlight user would see her from the distance they were at.

About 50 feet from the fence, she looked closely for any breaks in the fence for her to slip through. Maybe if she had a wire-cutter, it would be a breeze to get through, but she wasn't provided any. Yukari made a mental note to bring one along next time.

If there was going to be a next time.

Though the searchlight flash around the center of the base, it didn't have a standard pattern and skimmed the border of the base a few time. Yukari ducked each time the light came, heart racing each time.

She looked and looked, nothing in the fences. Was the mission already doomed from the start? The searchlight came around again and a glint off the fence caught her eye. She crawled over the muddy ground, the mud catching on her as she dragged her body over the ground. Reaching to the glint, she found her blessing.

"A break in the fence…" She said. It was a very small hole caused by a rip on the bottom of the fence. The ripped part extended outwards toward Yukari, but it seemed big enough to crawl through. "Isabelle, I found a hole in the fence, I'm going to try and crawl through it."

" _Alright Yukari. Make sure the fence is not electrified before trying."_ Isabelle said.

"How do I do that?" Yukari asked.

" _Look for any warnings, or wires. Regulation dictates that if the charge on an electrical fence is dangerous, warnings should be placed to warn anyone around it. Plus, there might be a hum from the electrical current."_

Yukari looked at the fence, examining around each fence post and the such. "No warning and there doesn't seem to have any wires, it seems safe. I'm going through."

" _Be careful."_

Yukari crawled through, nudging through the fence hole as the metal mesh bends away from her body as she forced herself through.

On the concrete ground of the base, the hard floor made her feel back in society. Now on the other side of the fence, she crawled forward to the cover of a cement roadblock dotting the outskirts of the base as a searchlight waved over her area.

"Isabelle, I made it inside."

" _Great, we're one step closer to a successful mission. Not bad for a rookie."_

"Alright, I'm going in."

" _Whoa, wait just a moment, let me brief you on the interior of this place from what we can see up here,_ " Isabelle said.

"Okay, shoot," Yukari said.

" _From what we can see here, the tanks are most likely parked inside the large building on the eastern side of the are you are in. You should be able to see it._ "

Yukari looked over the roadblock and took her binocular. On the other side of the camp, near the towers, a collection of large buildings were present at the area. "I think I see it, is there a tower with a searchlight by it?"

" _Around that area, yes. It should be the largest building there._ "

"I think I see it," Yukari said. It looked like a large hangar, with large double doors facing towards the center of the base. To the right of that she could see what appears to be repair shops attending to some broken down tanks, the small sparks fly around as they mechanics work on the metal beasts.

" _Remember Yukari, the cadets only have a region of the entire base. Stay within that fenced area of the base. If you go outside it towards the other parts of the base, you will be put under the jurisdiction of the British military and they will get you._ "

"I'll keep that in mind," Yukari said. "I'm moving out."

" _Roger that, out."_

Yukari stayed around the border of the base, avoiding the center area where all the light and attention are at. She crawled under the roadblocks, and at each clearing she darted to the next one when the lights turn away. No one was present at the west area surprisingly, in fact she hasn't seen one British cadet yet.

The time she reached one of the buildings on the southern side of the base, she was short of breath. Working as a tank loader gave her endurance, but it's still nothing compared to dedicated boot camp. She took a moment for a breather, looking around the corners for any guards.

Nothing yet. The worse there could be was that there was a sniper watching the area.

She used the alleyway and corners the buildings provided to move rapidly closer to the eastern side. The cover gave her darkness to move more confidently without being seen. Turning one corner into an alleyway, she froze with surprise.

Two cadets in front of her at the end of the alleyway, carrying weapons while covered in a poncho. Illuminated by the lights at the base center, their silhouettes were unmistakeable. One had a smaller weapon, probably a submachine gun, but the other had a long rifle similar to the one Yukari saw at the _Panzer Glory_ shop.

She took out her tranquilizer and pointed at their general direction while inching away slowly back behind the buildings. She hid herself behind the corner, then looked down the alley to make sure she wasn't spotted before darting across the alley towards next building.

Her heart was beating like a mad machine, sweat was building up inside her while the rain droplets stayed on her exposed skin and hair. The cold air brushing up her face and the warm interior of her suit made for a very strange body condition. She beared with it as she moved forwards. Inside each building she passed, she sensed various activities going on inside, though she pressed on with her objective.

 _Find the tanks, get the intel. Find the tanks, get the intel._ Yukari reminded herself over and over as her motivation. She was there for that purpose. She can't mess up or she'd be a bother to not only Isabelle and the Saunders whom she bothered to get them here the first place, but Miho for disappearing when she should've been practicing with them on the tank field.

Almost on the east side, she looked out from the last building of the row and peeked the corner. The mechanic workshop she saw earlier was now about 100 meters away from her, and it was a distance from the hangar. The distance between her location and the hangar was nothing but open space.

 _Gotta get around_ , Yukari thought as she made her way towards the repair shops. It was still active as mechanics used their machinery and tools on the tanks. Crates were stacked about on the way and she used them for cover from the open.

Approaching the workshops, her body froze as a backdoor opened on the workshop, right in front of her. She ducked behind one of the crates, hoping no one saw her. After some moment, she peeked around the crate and saw two individuals outside. A metallic flick could be heard and a flame. Looked like the two are having a smoke break.

"So you heard about them schoolgirls?" one of them spoke. Yukari close enough behind her crate to hear them in this rain.

"You mean Ōarai? Yeah, heard they passed first round. Messed up the Americans real good." Another voice spoke out.

"And we're next up," The first voice said.

"You're not worried, are you? We managed to beat them during that practice match about three weeks ago."

"Think they'll be the same? Three weeks ago, it was just us 11 tanks against their 11, Frank. Now all bets are off. We're playing the League's rules now. They have gotten themselves a team of 30 tanks, and who knows if they got reserves."

"It'll be fine, Edwards. Don't worry too much about it. At least we don't have to worry about a heavy guard duty tonight."

"Yeah… that's a fortunate thing tonight. Ōarai doesn't have the capacity of a scouting operation. They're not sufficiently trained for that kind of operation and they don't have the numbers. It's reasonable to give most of the team rest tonight before the order to move out."

"Yep, after all the training from the last few days."

"We're not moving the tanks until this rain stop, right?"

"Yep, and it won't stop until dawn. All the tanks are under cover at the moment so this rain won't damage any electricals."

"On the other hand, now we're at overtime working on any faults in the regiment's tanks."

"Don't say that Edwards, use this moment to know more about your tank's inside than your girlfriend's."

"Jesus man, sod off."

"Hey, you two! Breaks over! Get in here!" A voice called out from inside the workshop."

"Sir!" The two cadets said as they extinguish their cigarettes and walked inside.

Yukari, still outside, breathed easily as she began to move again. She crossed through all the workshop sheds to the other side. Judging from the area, she was nearing the south-east corner of the base territory.

Looking towards the north, she saw the large hangar making up a large part of this side of the base. "Isabelle, this is Yukari. I'm nearing the hangar."

" _Roger that, Yukari. You're on the south side, right?"_ Isabelle came back, Yukari regaining confidence knowing that they're still on her side.

"Yeah, I can see a door here, I'm going to go in."

" _Whoa, wait a minute. Security in that hangar ought to be pretty tight. Be careful, don't go waltzing in casually."_

"Uh, okay, got it," Yukari said, though she really just want to get out of the rain.

She approached the hangar side entrance, looking for any windows to the inside to see if there were anyone waiting for her. There was nothing, the whole steel hangar was isolated from the outside world once the doors were closed.

Yukari approached the side door, holding her breath as she slowly checked the knob. _Oh good, it's unlocked…_ Yukari thought in relief when the door handle turned with her hand. Pulling it slowly and gently, the door opened like a well-oiled machine. Not a sound was made as Yukari peeked in through the now opened door. To the left, then to the right.

 _No one,_ Yukari thought again at ease. She entered the hangar, closing the door gently without a sound. The room she ended up was not the main hangar, but it seemed to be the management section with all the paperwork, computer, and files about in an office setting. A window was present and she looked out into the main hangar section.

 _Tanks!_ Yukari saw in delight. Then she remembered her role, looking around one more time for any guards she missed. Surprisingly, there was no one, at least from the viewpoint she was in.

Yukari inched towards the door and once more opened it up as softly as she could. To her surprise, there was really no one in the open area of the hangar. What there was, however, was her prize.

Three rows of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment Cadet's tanks were lined up inside. Shermans, Cromwells, Comets, Churchills, Achilles, and much more! They were in rather pristine condition for the abuse they've been through.

"Isabelle, I'm inside. I see the tanks," Yukari said in her mic as she walked around, looking for any guards she may have missed.

" _Excellent Yukari, make sure you gather intel, we need more than your words for proof,_ " Isabelle said.

"Got it, out." Yukari said, she finished her rounds in the hangar and determined there really wasn't anyone inside the hangar but her.

With that assertion, she reached to one of her gear pouches and pulled out a slim digital camera. She reached one end of the hangar and took a photo of all the tanks in the rows. "There's one for the books…" She said to herself.

Snapping photos of the tanks, some of them more meticulously than other. Not for the scouting, but for her own personal possession and maybe as a reference when she makes her new tank model sets.

She then come across a rather unusual set of vehicles. _What the heck?_ Yukari first thought when she saw them. _Armored cars?_

Yukari wanted to check on Isabelle for this. "Hey, Isabelle. What are the restrictions on vehicles in the Tankery matches?"

" _Only those that the League approves, why?_ "

"There's some… armored cars here in the hangar. Are these important?"

" _Armored cars? What kind?"_

"Looks like… AEC models."

" _They might be legal, will have to recheck the approved vehicle list. Gather intel just in case._ "

"Alrighty then," Yukari said as she brought up her camera.

" _Should you really be talking like this? Aren't there guards around?"_

"No, there's no one in the hangar. I'm the only one here."

" _Really?"_ Isabelle said in surprised, then in a hushed voic _e "Hmm… she wouldn't do that…"_

"What do you mean?" Yukari said.

 _CLICK_

Yukari reacted in quick fashion. She looked towards the direction of the noise. The next thought that came was that she needed to move, fast.

The air cracked as it was pierced. Yukari took a small leap backward as her legs responded to her thoughts before she registered. A ear-shattering whistle filled her head as she heard something bounce around at a speed she couldn't comprehend.

All this came to her before she touched the ground. She landed waveringly as she braced her legs and an arm to keep her balance. As she came to a stop, she pulled out her tranquilizer gun.

"I've been waiting for you, Legend!"

A female voice called out and Yukari aimed the gun towards the direction. The figure was a short distance from Yukari about halfway down the hangar besides the Achilles tank destroyers and she had something… a pistol in her hand.

"Huh? You're not the Legend…" the female said as she held up her pistol. The voice was recognizable to Yukari. She thought about it, then various features on the female became recognizable.

The youthful face, the tri-colored uniform with sleeves rolled up, the wide energetic eyes...

That hair color mixture of coffee brown and shining blonde yellow flowing at her shoulders…

"Emma?" Yukari said, slightly lowering her weapon.

"Yukari?" She said, then chuckling, "Ha! Who've thunk? You're the Ōarai scout?"

"You expected me?" Yukari said, bewildered.

"I knew Ōarai didn't have the capacity for a large-scale scouting attempts like the Americans or Russians typically do, but I do know you girls have a history of scouting regardless," Emma explained. "I thought it was the 'Legend' who had a part in this too,judging from that conversation we had in the _Panzer Glory_ store. Y'know, taking the responsibility as a commander to scout ahead on the enemy."

Yukari listened intently as she kept her weapon trained on Emma. Despite their acquaintanceship, they were enemies now.

"But, I'd never imagine it was you, Yukari! Ha! This just became more interesting!"

"If you'd knew we were coming, you should've improved the defense here. I made it all the way here due to it."

"And what?" Emma said, eyeing on Yukari, "ruin an opportunity for an exciting fight against an Ōarai student?"

Yukari gripped her gun more firmly on that statement.

"I thought it was the 'Legend' who does this, so I waited patiently in my Achilles the last three nights alone in this hangar after everyone's gone to sleep. I never said a word of possible infiltration so I, alone, could fight her when I see her step foot in our hangar." Emma said, then gestured her pistol towards Yukari, "But I guess you will have to do as well!"

Emma holstered her pistol, a Webley revolver. An archaic weapon in a world of automatics, but compared to Yukari's tranquilizer gun, it was a whole lot better.

"Now then… Yukari, I'll show you the thrilling experience of Tankery's 'scouting'!"

Time seemed to stay still as Yukari and Emma faced off in the empty line made from the two rows of the cadet's tankery equipment. Though Yukari had her tranquilizer gun trained on Emma, she looked no less confident even with her firearm put away."

"Draw!" She shouted, and in an instance, fired a shot, nicking Yukari's hair. Yukari yelped and dived to cover behind a Comet. She scrambled about using the tanks as cover. As she moved between two of them, a shot rang out.

"Agh!" Yukari yelled as she felt a heavy blow on her left arm. Her body was thrown slightly to the right as the force pushed her. She leaned on a tank, trying to take on the pain on her arm.

"C'mon, Yukari! I'm expecting more from you!" Emma said as if stalking her.

Yukari, however, was in no right mind to fight. She moved swiftly, making distance between her and Emma's voice.

" _Yukari? Talk to me! Anything going on down there?!"_ Her radio shouted at her.

 _Now isn't the time!_ Yukari frantically thought as she reached to her earpiece, her left arm heavy from pain. "I'm currently in a gunfight," She whispered in a hush before reacting once more when a shot whizzed by her direction.

" _What? With the entire base!?"_ Isabelle said as though her deepest fears were realized.

Finding cover behind another tank, Yukari corrected, "No, it's a cadet named Emma."

" _Emma? You mean 'Puma' Emma?_ "

"What?" Yukari said, first time hearing that name.

" _Emma Brooke? She's known as 'Puma' in the Tankery community for her sneaking tendencies. In matches and scouting ventures, she's known to surprise opponents and take them out before they realize what's happened. She's rather famous for her energy and viciousness."_

"Couldn't I have known this earlier?!" Yukari shouted. A bullet soon struck near her location, the rubber round ricocheting as it bounced off the tanks. Yukari moved about as she avoided direct contact with Emma. _So that's why she's in a tank destroyer group?_

As she hid, she heard a loud clatter of metal hit the floor with a _clack clack_. Yukari moved around the tank walls and saw Emma, exposed as she was reloading her top-break action Webley.

The significance of seeing Emma in the open hit her late, she suddenly caught herself with the situation and aimed her tranquilizer gun. _One or two shot is probably enough to set someone to dreamland,_ Yukari recalled as she aimed the tranquilizer up and fired. It had a light recoil and made little sound with the suppressor, coming out more as a _poof_. The noise the dart made when it hit Emma's flesh made a more distinguishable sound as the pressure-activated syringe plunged into her.

"Ah!" Emma winced in pain as the needle digged in her skin. She looked at the impact point on her left arm and pulled out the tiny syringe. She laughed as she tossed it away. "You think this will work on me? I've had drug resistance training, Yukari! Is this all you brought?"

 _Crap!_ Yukari thought. Was that really a thing? Her tranquilizer gun is starting to feel more and more useless. She changed position so Emma didn't find her there, but she felt like she was a mouse in a den of mouse traps and a cat.

"Isabelle," Yukari said to her earpiece, "This tranquilizer isn't working! It didn't put down Emma, she said she got drug training or whatever!"

" _Calm down Yukari! There isn't such thing as immunity to tranquilizers! You got to increase the dosage!"_

"A-Alright," Yukari said nervously. In the interior of the hangar, the rain pattered on the roof sent an ominous sound throughout the area. The disturbance drowns out the smallest noises.

"There you are!" Emma's voice came. Not from the ground, but… from above? Yukari looked up in horror to see Emma staring down on her on top of the Comet. She quickly dived away as Emma's bullets rained down, hitting her in the back twice.

Her tender body ached as the impact of the bullets affected her. The hard-hitting rounds of Emma's Webley revolver did its damage on Yukari.

".455 caliber," Emma said. "Traveling about 180 meters per second. Delivers an energy of about 300 joules per bullet." Yukari tried to crawl away as Emma stepped down onto the concrete. "Better fight for your life, Yukari!"

Yukari was determined to, in a sweeping motion, she used her legs and tripped Emma. She fell back and Yukari got up, aiming her tranquilizer gun at her.

Nothing fired when she pulled the trigger, she looked at it. Was it broken? Emma was getting back up very quickly. Yukari troubleshooted herself through the gun's action. _Magazine was in place, round was sea- oh,_ She came to the problem, the manually-operated slide action. She racked the slide quickly, ejecting a cartridge as Emma brought up her revolver.

The two fired and both felt the impact, Emma has a dart on her left shoulder squeeze its content into her while Yukari was punched on her right abdomen as a shot rang out. This time, the pain made her feel faint. Emma made her escape from her exposed position. Yukari decided to do the same and stumbled behind a few tanks.

The two combatants moved across the hangar, one attempting to hunt down the other. _She's crazy!_ Yukari thought as she moved towards another tank, her hand gripping the area she was hit on her belly. Her body was aching in pain, crying out for a time to rest. Emma's relentless pursuit made that impossible, and Yukari pushed on.

As Yukari leaned next to one of the Churchills, hiding behind its large suspension, she looked across the area to see the office room that she crossed through to get inside.

An opportunity to dash out? Run away? She already got enough photographs in her camera, it's probably got most of the tanks in this hangar. If she can make it out and back to the helicopter, she's scott free! She didn't have to continue fighting Emma if she can escape under her breath.

She steadied her breath, looking around the corner of the Churchill for Emma. Was she still searching? She could make a straight dash to the door from where she was.

Yukari decided and made a run for it. Bursting from cover through the open section between the rows and to the other side. It felt like time slowed down as she made her run. Her legs felt wobbly, affected by her exhaustion just getting her and the pain on her upper body.

As she passed by a Sherman, she saw something flash and felt a grip around her neck. She was thrusted back, losing her grip on her tranquilizer pistol as it flew somewhere in the room. Yukari felt her legs unable to propel her forward as she was held back. Her toes barely touching the ground as she was leaned back, her arms struggled with the strong grip around her neck.

"Surrender, Yukari!" Emma shouted behind her, arms around Yukari's neck. Yukari continued to struggle then she felt a small kick on her left leg, bringing her down lower than Emma, who kept her grip. It was tight, but she could still draw breath. However, how long it was going to stay that way was now up to her holder.

Surrender wasn't in Yukari's vocabulary, however. She put up a fight against Emma. She tried to thrash about, moving her arms and body violently against her grip. It wasn't any use. Emma didn't budged. Compared to Emma, she was a student. Emma is a military-trained cadet, and she was making good use of it.

"Give it up, Yukari," Emma said again. "Don't make… me, choke you out."

Yukari noted the slur in Emma's voice, she felt the grip on her weaken.

"H… Hwah? What's goin…" Emma continued, confused.

Yukari took the chance, she thrusted violently towards her right. Emma's grip weakened with the sudden movement. Yukari took that moment and freed herself from Emma's iron grip. Almost by instinct, she grabbed Emma's right arm and shifted her weight forward, letting Emma's body weight ride over her back.

The motion sent Emma flying, over Yukari and right onto the concrete ground, back first. Yukari didn't stop to think about what just happened and tried to locate her tranquilizer gun. She distanced herself from Emma, who was starting to get up, soggily, and looked around the ground.

 _Where is it?!_ Yukari thought in her mind, as she looked around the tanks. She got down on the ground and looked under the tanks. "Ah!" She cried out as she found the gun right under a Cromwell. She crawled under the cruiser tank to grab it, the body suit gave her body a rough feeling as she made the movements. She grabbed the gun and attempted to slide out. Out on the other end in between the two rows, she saw Emma looking frantically for her. She looked slightly disoriented and confused. Yukari took this chance to aim the tranquilizer gun at her.

She pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Yukari internally cursed as she realized the slide wasn't cocked again. She racked the slide, but it made a sound louder than the gun did when it fired.

Emma heard the sound and turned around. She cocked her Webley revolver with its distinctive _CLICK_ and aimed it towards Yukari, with Yukari aiming her tranquilizer towards Emma.

The two fired at each other once more and as Yukari heard the dart leave her gun, she felt an impact on her lower abdomen. The force hit her harder than the rest, hitting the soft tissue and organ down below without the ribcage to absorb any of the damage. She fell onto her back gripping the area in pain while Emma reacted to the dart that landed on her chest, penetrating through her uniform and hitting the skin underneath.

Emma made a hasty withdrawal behind cover as Yukari recovered. Her right side lower belly seemed to pain as if sore. She checked to make sure nothing was bleeding as she took cover behind an armored car. Taking a few deep breath as she tried to block out the pain. "Agh!" Yukari cried out in a muffled voice, arm above her mouth. She gripped her hit area to try to mitigate the pain.

" _Yukari, what's your status?"_ Isabelle came back.

Yukari lifted a finger to her earpiece, "I'm being beat up real good..." She said in a joking matter.

" _Try to hold on, Yukari. We can't pick you up in the middle of the base, you have to get yourself outside to the extraction point."_

"I know, I know!" Yukari said. "I have to take care of Emma first. I'll get back to you when I'm done!"

" _Good luck!_ " Isabelle said.

 _Could've used that a few minutes ago…_ Yukari thought to herself. She steadied her tranquilizer pistol towards her front as she moved. Her whole body ached now, burning with pain. Turning tank corners and being covered between the tanks, she kept an eye for Emma. Was she waiting to pounce on her again, or was she on the prowl?

Yukari heard heavy breathing, one she could hear inside despite the rain drops. The noise came from a distance, between the tank destroyers. Yukari checked her gun for a loaded round and steadied herself towards the area. She neared the source, right next to an Achilles. Inching forwards, gradually turning the corner, she came upon Emma.

Her slump body was propped up on an Achilles, her arm and upper body propped up by one of the bosses on the Achilles' hull side, and her left arm dangled with the gravity. Her revolver in her left hand with its action open. Yukari, looking at her body confused, motioned carefully towards her body, making sure it wasn't a trick. As she got closer, Yukari worried that maybe Emma was in a bad condition from the darts that she pumped into her..

Yukari put her hand up to check a pulse, but the small nudge sent Emma's body stumbling to the ground with a _thud_ , her revolver clattering on the ground as it left her grip. Yukari checked for breathing and heartbeat, and came up confident that Emma was indeed, technically speaking, asleep. Emma didn't snore, but she laid there asleep, her breath coming out like a cat's purr. Yukari laid Emma in a more dignified position next to the Achilles before herself collapsing, resting upon the Achilles' bogie suspension.

Yukari took a breather, her mind was now clouded with thoughts of pain. The spots she was hit at pulsed as she felt some heat as the wounds swelled. Beyond that, she was exhausted, feeling a pressure on her mind and body as it rang for a moment to unwind. She was so tempted to fall asleep, but she knew she can't, not in enemy territory. After a moment, she lifted up her left arm, the pain now bearable, and touched her earpiece, "Hey, Isabelle. It's me. I took out Emma, she's fast asleep."

" _Great work, Yukari. Is there anyone else after you?"_

"Doesn't look like it. All clear here," Yukari said.

" _Nice, Yukari, get back here ASAP. Helicopter's fuel won't last long._ "

"Right, let me take a few more photos, then I'll be on my way back."

" _Roger, let us know once you're ready. We'll come get you. Out."_

Yukari let out a breath as she got up, camera back in her hand and her legs feeling like jello, and got to work. Deeper details were needed, and she walked around the hangar taking at least a photo of each individual vehicle before exiting. She made sure a few of the photos were suitable for herself as well.

Back outside the rain, Yukari believed she was in the clear with the lack of any reaction in the base. The rain had muffled the combat that happened inside the hangar. The mechanics in the workshop a distance from the hangar are still working on their tanks, noisier than the rain as a machinery whined up for action. Yukari make her way back to her landing zone on the other side, but on the way she noticed a large tarp covering something by the repair shops, illuminated by some light posts nearby.

She thought it may be covering cars or trucks from the weather, but it looked much too big proportion-wise for it to be utility vehicles. She walked closer to it, staying in the shadow until she had no choice but to enter the illuminated circle around the tarp. The tarp flapped about in the rain and wind, held down by cables tying it down to whatever was underneath. The wind did show that the whole thing wasn't a solid object, and no way it was a truck.

Yukari reached to get under the tarp, to find out what the cadets were hiding...

"Hey! Who's that?!"

"Intruder!"

 _Shit._

* * *

"Get us down at the landing post, Hawkins!" Isabelle cried out. The alarm on the base was blaring now. The red alarms on the corner of the base were brightened and rotating with the sirens sending out a screeching _BWEEEEOOOOOO_ in repetition. Even at their height and the weather, the alarm reached the noisy helicopter.

" _What if she's caught?! We're risking the capture of the entire crew here!"_ Alisa said, but her hands moved on the controls complying with the order.

" _Can it, Alisa!_ " Hawkins said. " _She was able to send that distress signal, she's definitely on her way out!_ "

" _God damn it! Can't any intel-gathering go easily?!"_ Alisa shouted out in frustration.

Black Jay heavily tilted forward as it gained speed towards the original landing zone. Among the darkness in the forest, it was hard to find the right position visually, but the instrumentals remember the helicopter's last landing position and Hawkins used that data to guide it there.

As the coordinates near the precise numbers, Hawkins pulled up the Black Hawk to quickly stop over the position. The helicopter lowered down onto the ground, just hovering a foot above for a quick getaway.

"C'mon girl, you can do it. C'mon…" Isabelle said to herself as she unbuckled herself and opened the fuselage door on the side towards the base. She looked out towards the darkness of the forest, in contrast to the light of the base in the background and the helicopter's lights.

It was a long wait, it felt like it at the very least. Isabelle and Alisa looked out into the forest. It was very hard to see anything farther than 30 feet even with the light.

" _She's not coming… She's not coming!_ " Alisa pointed out.

"Steady girl, don't lose your head," Isabelle said, clinging on to faith. Yukari's gone so far into the mission, she can't mess up now!

A large _CLANG_ was heard on the helicopter's body, Isabelle taken by surprise. Then some more came in. _We're being shot at?!_ Isabelle made of the surprising sounds. However, if there were bullet flying around here…

"She's coming! Get ready, Hawkins!"

" _Right!"_

In the distance, the sounds were becoming more clear. _Rata-ta-ta-ta_! and _Blam!_ could be heard echoing off the trees. Isabelle was almost at the edge of the fuselage, as if she was ready to jump out and get Yukari herself.

A figure popped out, hidden by her dark suit that the first thing Isabelle saw was her face. She was invisible until about 25 feet away, and when she did, Isabelle extended her arm. Muzzle flashes could be seen in the forest background, firing towards them.

"C'mon, hurry!" Isabelle yelled towards her. She was running with all her might and made a small leap towards the helicopter, her hand gripping Isabelle's. "Go!" Isabelle ordered Hawkins, and she felt the force of the helicopter lifting itself.

Isabelle pulled Yukari into the helicopter's fuselage before closing the door. Bullets ricocheted off the helicopter body as it impacted on the steel. Hawkins brought the helicopter into motion as it left the area, its occupant safe from the angry cadets below at being played by a high school.

"Hey, Yukari," Isabelle said towards the wheezing figure on the helicopter floor. Her condition was a mess. Aside from being exposed in the wind and water, the run back had caused her to catch mud, leaves, and other wilderness items in her hair and suit. The suit was hydrophobic, but some specks of mud still remained.

Isabelle helped the figure up to a seat for a better resting position. Yukari was out of breath, wheezing heavily. Her heart raced like never before from the physical exertion. She was very tired, her body sore all over.

"I…" Yukari wanted to say, "I think we stirred them up a bit…"

Isabelle smiled heartily, patting Yukari on the back. "Congratulations girl, you are the first ever Tankery member to pull off a successful solo infiltration on an enemy base."

Yukari let out a small laugh among her attempt to catch a breath. "Yeah… I did good."

Her head rested alongside Isabelle's body as she closed her eyes. Her body and mind worn out from the taxing situation. For everything she did, she wasn't even a military-trained personnel. Just a girl with a lot of guts and dedication.

Isabelle let the sleeping student rest easy as she reached in and retrieved the digital camera. She previewed it, making sure each photo was taken properly. Shermans, Comets, Cromwells, all the tanks were accounted for. Isabelle almost made a laugh when she found that one of the photo was Emma's sleeping body. A memento for her victory? It was definitely one for her to keep.

" _Heading to Southampton Airport!_ " Hawkins said as the helicopter corrected its course. Black Jay had done its duty in a scouting tactic and it was time for them to rest.

Isabelle couldn't help thinking just how much more interesting the Ōarai girls could possibly be.

* * *

 **Did I mention I like Metal Gear Solid? No? Well I do.**

 **This is my interesting spin on the 'scouting business' of Tankery with the Girls Und Panzer cast. I hope I did okay with it because it will be an important thing in the story. I had the same kicks with it like I did with the tank battles, it was all rather interesting. Don't worry though, we're still going to jump into the tank battles very soon. This is Girls Und Panzer, after all.**

 **Since it's a new dive for me, what did you think? Does this mission need any work? Was there anything you felt was missing? Did I screw something up? Feel free to write a review telling me what I can do to improve if you felt like it was lacking. I always appreciate feedback. If you want to keep up with the story, don't be afraid to Follow and Favorite the story as well!**

 **Shout out to my UK readers out there, these next few chapters are for you.**


	14. Inner Demons

_**Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 14: Inner Demons**

 **Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho waited patiently along with the landing crew for the arrival of Saunder's C-5M Super Galaxy in the dark, breezy night. All the landing lights had been set up, lights bright enough that the ship may have been seen from space.

As she sat on a crate near the garage, Miho looked at a group of students idling near the tank garages. It seemed the girls have taken their new posting with some enthusiasm. With nothing else to do, Miho approached the students.

"How are you all, tonight?" Miho asked first. She finds that the students were from Pravda.

"Great! Thanks for asking!" The tallest one of the bunch replied, shouldering her weapon. Miho suspects her to be their senior.

"It's not too chilly for you all, is it?"

"Nah, we deal with worse where our school goes."

"I see. How do you like this position?"

"Oh, I'm liking it so far. Nothing's happened yet in the OSF!"

The Ōarai Security Force; a hastily chosen name, but it showed the purpose of the group. A form of defense against the enemy scouts. Miho, by the advice of the instructors, pushed for its formation after Yukari's "little adventure".

There were many uncertain risks when Yukari left for her excursion. What if she failed? How would they get her back? Would their opponent decide to launch a counter-attack? Something had to be done, so the security force was made for Ōarai in the World Tournament.

Since Saunders were mostly gone on their journey, the security team was currently made up of mostly girls from Pravda, who are all somewhat trained on the firearms that Ōarai has, as well as having brought along their personal arsenal. Thus, Miho was introduced to Pravda's PPSH-41 and PPS-43. The light 7.62x25mm cartridges produces a small recoil able to be handled by a schoolgirl's physique, yet the submachine gives unparalleled close-range firepower should it come to that.

"I've been meaning to ask one of you…" Miho began, "why does Pravda have access to such weaponry? Pravda doesn't go through the international tankery very often.

"We're prepared for any circumstances!" The senior said. "What? You got a problem with that?"

"N-no! No, just wondering," Miho said. She wasn't objecting too hard against it. Ōarai wasn't the most well-armed and if Pravda and Saunders have more practical experience with them, it makes sense if they make up the bulk of the security force.

"As one of Japan's top Sensha-Dou school, we got to be prepared just in case we're ever called upon by the International League for the World Tournament!"

"Has Pravda been brought up to the international community before this?"

"No, but that's beside the point."

"I see. Well, I'll be going then."

"Das vidanya!" The senior waved as Muho left. "Hey, Nina! Watch where you're pointing that thing!"

"Sorry!" A timid voice came from the crowd as Miho walked away.

Some of Ōarai students volunteered as well, they were in another area of the field. Of the volunteered Ōarai students, the security force was made up of Anteater, Duck, Hippo, and Leopon, giving Ōarai at the very most 16 fighters from their own school. They were all ready to fight if the time comes to it.

Miho spotted one of them patrolling around and decided to check on them. "Hello!" Miho waved towards them.

"Halt!" A voice cried out, it was Caesar.

"Gah!" Miho instinctively held her hands up, finding herself at the business end of a Kar 98k rifle.

"What's the capital of Okinawa?"

"Caesar, it's me, Miho!"

"That's not an answer I'm looking for!"

"Caesar, let it go." Saemonza said walking up to Caesar with a MP40 rattling on her.

Caesar raised her rifle, smiling cheekily, "Sorry commander, got words of enemy infiltrators on the carrier!"

"On the battlefield, I might've believed you. But please don't give out heart attacks like that, and don't use that excuse either, you might raise paranoia."

"Sorry about that!"

"Do you have everything ready just in case though?"

Caesar held up a phone, "Got one ready and dialed to the garrison!"

Miho was relieved. The current plan was that the security force would keep watch and alert others via phone in an attack, mobilizing everyone. How this would work in an event of an actual scouting raid is unknown, but there's no way to quickly test it now with only a few days to the match against the British 3rd RTR cadets.

"Alright, I'm going to be off now, take care you two!" Miho said to the two girls.

"God's speed, Miho!"

Miho returned to near the center of the field where all the landing crew equipment laid. It's been almost two days since Yukari left. On this night, two days away from the match, the student council got a call from Saunders saying they were on the way back. Miho personally got ready to receive the cargo along with the other crew on the ground.

The sea breeze blew heavily on the school carrier that night. Miho dressed warmly in her red, fluffy jacket and pink fuzzy gloves, but drop in temperature as the ship headed north still left a chill. Though, Miho was determined to wait for Saunders to land.

She had a stern talking to do to a friend of hers.

The landing crew started scrambling, preparing for something. Miho looked up in the sky. Somewhere in that distant void, something was making its rounds towards them.

Amidst the splash of the ocean waves and the moans of the wind, the four high powered GE CF6 engines roared in the air as the C-5M Super Galaxy made its descent. In the air, the navigation lights highlight the wing and flap tips. The large beast flew away from the carrier towards its aft after making a pass, slowly turning as it rolled to the side for the turn and deceleration. Soon, the Galaxy was moving towards the bow as it made its touchdown onto the tank field. Once fully landed, the Galaxy taxied closer to the tank garages, parking firmly with a complete stop.

The nose of the flapped open, over the cockpit, to expose the fuselage interior fully to facilitate loading and unloading. A ramp was laid out as the Saunder crew inside got to work. Miho got closer to inspect the work process and to look for a certain stowaway.

One side of the aircraft was taken up by a large black helicopter; its rotor blade was folded up to fit inside the plane. On the other were three large green tanks, soon belching out a menacing, metallic roar with their gasoline engines as they prepare to disembark.

One lone female walked out of the plane onto the dirt, unaware that she was being sought out. Miho approached this person, and upon eye contact, the figure froze, though Miho continued walking closer. The female sheepishly approached Miho, her messy hair now visible in the dark. Her clothes was a mess, she smelled as if she hadn't shower for days, and her face was grimy with dark stains of oil, dirt, and wrinkles.

"H-hi, Nishizumi-dono…" The figure spoke to her with a hint of nervousness and fear in her voice. Miho looked at her with a subdued disapproving look.

"You were gone for two whole days, Yukari," Miho said to her friend. "I didn't take you for one about to go AWOL."

"I'm sorry, Nishizumi-dono…" Yukari said regretfully.

"Practice wasn't the same without you, y'know? We were all worried about you, that one empty space in the Panzer IV just echoes without you…"

"Umm..."

"Not to mention being gone for two whole days. You even worried your own parents! I had to tell them that I believed you were alright, but with no way to contact you…"

"Nishizumi-dono…"

Miho sighed, taking a breath to catch her thought.

"I did this because I thought you wouldn't let me…I only wanted to help…"

"I know, Yukari… But next time, don't be afraid to tell us when you're leaving. You worried us a lot."

"Right… I'm sorry, Nishizumi-dono!"

"Well there is nothing to worry about," the American girl said approaching the two. "She did her job very-"

"As for you," Miho said towards Isabelle, taking a stricter voice than usual, one even Yukari haven't heard before. "I appreciate the help you've given us, but don't you dare take anyone else from Ōarai for your business. This is my team, not your's."

Despite Isabelle being taller than Miho by a head, Miho seemed to stare down on the American cadet with her expression. Yukari shirked as she had never saw Miho like this before. To her, Miho had become a different person, with an attitude like a mother bear protecting its young from a predator.

"... Understood," Isabelle relented, her expression unmoving. Awkward silence followed as the girls glared at each other, aside from Yukari who could only gawk with uncertainty.

The trio was interrupted by the roar of mechanical beasts, turning their attention towards the interior of the Super Galaxy plane once more. Three new Saunder tanks rumbled off the ramp onto the dirt. Though they do not look any different from the M4 Sherman base model, a look on the turret and gun mantlet design gives the indication that these models had more under their green paint than they seemed.

"Miho!" Kay shouted enthusiastically, waving from the cupola of the lead Sherman, "Check this out! The girls back at school managed to pimp these gnarly Shermans out with extra armor! They're registered as Jumbos now! Ain't that sweet?!" She says all this waving her hands around expressively in a childlike joy. Her teeth flashed as she smiled like a maniac whose toy was about to be unleashed onto the world.

Miho could only look into Kay's wide eyes before the three Jumbos clacked passed her towards the garage holding the rest of the other school's tanks.

"She's… one energetic woman," Isabelle commented, rather stunned by the display Saunders put throughout the journey.

"I'd say," Miho agreed, still watching agap. Kay had quite a wildcard of a personality.

Yukari only looked on tiredly; she was exhausted from her entire journey. "Well… I think I'm going to go home, and find my soft, soft bed to lie on.

"Whoa, Yukari, are you okay?" Miho asked a weary Yukari, whose legs seem to be wiggling like jelly.

"I'm fine… Nishizumi-dono, just tired."

"I'll walk you home, okay? You get a good night's sleep tonight," Miho said.

"I have to be here tomorrow though," Yukari said before giving out a big yawn, stretching her roughed-up Ōarai uniform. "For practice…"

"No, no, it's alright Yukari. It's alright," Miho said, putting a hand onto Yukari's back as she guided the tired girl back home.

* * *

 **Akiyama's Residence, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho helped Yukari all the way to her house and into her room. Yukari's room was just the same as she remembered the first time she came in looking for Yukari after her first absence from school. Large posters decorate the walls, each one of them detailing a famous war movie or some military-themed anime. Model tanks decorate a shelf, complete with a family photo of the Akiyamas. Next to that shelf was another with loads of books, of course all were military-themed in some shape or form. Jerry cans were also scattered across the room filled with who-knows-what, not to mention the large decorative tank shells placed alongside the walls for whatever purpose other than display. On her desk, the same large radio set was still there, with various military cosplay uniforms above it.

"Just like old times, huh?" Miho asked Yukari, who was pretty much half-asleep and had to be nudged by Miho up the stairs on her shoulders.

"Yeah…" Yukari said softly, "When I first went scouting against Saunders… you four were there in my room too."

"Yes, we were," Miho said, recounting the experience back then, meeting her parents and seeing her room, it was a grand exposure of Yukari Akiyama's lifestyle.

"You all were my only friends back then…" Yukari said, Miho looked at Yukari bobbling head as she laid her down on the tatami floor as she grabbed the futon from a closet. Setting it up, she laid down Yukari on the futon. "Now, look at us… the world at our fingertips…"

"Yes, it's quite a change from what we're used to huh?" Miho said. In a way, she felt very similar to Yukari. They both had quite a different upbringing, but their lifestyles meant that their attempts at relationships with others hadn't exactly been great. The two were very lonely girls in their lives until they met up with each other. Now they have lots of friends, with none willing to leave them behind in the dust.

"Yeah… it's a change," Yukari said, Miho could feel her drifting away into her sleep. Miho only smiled as she saw Yukari gradually slip away to a restful state.

Miho got up and silently left the Akiyama residence. Finding herself at ease that her friends were safe once more, she headed home.

* * *

 **The Next Day - Conference Room, Ōarai Carrier**

After the usual school routine, the girls of Ōarai Sensha-Dou team were called into the conference room by the Student Council. Miho went along her way with Saori, Hana, and Mako. As Saori practically dragged Mako down the hallways, Miho soon made an instinctive dodge to a looming threat.

"Nishizumi-do- Umph!" The voice cried out as Miho dropped towards the left, but inadvertently had her right elbow stick out and land in someone's gut.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Yukari!" Miho said, "Don't know my own strength!"

"That's… okay," Yukari said, "I felt worse."

"You certainly look a lot better now than how Miho described it," Hana said. "You must've been really tired last night."

"Yeah… but I'm all charged up now!" Yukari boasted, arm flexing as if to show her rejuvenated strength.

"Well, girls, here we are," Miho said as the five approached the conference room. Miho opened the double door to find the room with its large wooden oval table nearly full with the many important members of the Ōarai Sensha-Dou team. Saunders, St. Gloriana, Pravda, Anzio, Continuation, and Chi-Ha-Tan were represented by their captains, vice-captains, and some of their students. The group was quite chaotic among the chatter and the table was littered with their various items from personal mementos, tea, and lunch. Miho didn't feel like she could gather this group under control if she tried.

Loud tapping of a hard object on the whiteboard was the only thing that was louder than everything else in the room. Miho saw it was Isabelle with a long pointer stick hitting the whiteboard. "Now that everyone is here, may I have your attention please?" She said to the crowd. The tapping continued until the noise level lowered, eventually reaching silence as Miho and the rest of Anglerfish team found some seats. "Thank you," Isabelle said.

"So what have you got us here today for, yank?" Katyusha said.

"It's about our match in two days, against the British 3rd RTR, and a debriefing of our intel gathering mission the other day," Isabelle said. "I figured we might as well share the intel to try and get us all up to speed on what exactly the enemy team will be fielding on the day of the match. Any objections?"

No one in the room spoke up, except perhaps Kay's chewing on a piece of hamburger.

"Good, let's begin," Isabelle said as the room dimmed and a projector shined its light onto the whiteboard. An image loaded, showing the emblem of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment cadets that the Ōarai girls and St. Gloriana were familiar with. A simple wreath with a Mark IV landship in the middle of the symbol, with a royal crown on top and their motto on the bottom 'Fear Naught'. "The 2nd round of the tournament matches will take place with the first match being Ōarai against the 3rd RTR cadets of the British's cadet force. The 3rd RTR cadets have their lineage from the same 3rd Royal Tank Regiment that served during World War II. This regiment is a really famous bunch in British military history."

"How famous?" Miho asked.

"We're talking about 'Been there, shaped history' famous." Isabelle explained, her arms widening to show the scale the 3rd RTR were in. "They were involved in the Battle of France, Greece, Egypt, El Alamein, Tunisia in the span of 1940 to 1942. Then some time later they were involved in Normandy, Netherlands, Ardennes, and even into Germany from 1943 to VE-Day."

"Ardennes… Germany…" Mako said, counting off the campaigns on her fingers. "That's most of the major fights in the European Theater…"

"Except Italy!" Yukari pointed out their absence.

"Are you implying something?!" Pepperoni lashed out, with Anchovy and Carpaccio holding her back desperately.

"Calm down over there!" Isabelle shouted in the temporary chaos. Order was soon established in the small green-walled conference room. "Continuing on… Today, the original 3rd RTR military unit had become amalgamated with the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, its name disused until picked up by some rather proud members in the Army Cadet Force." She stuck the pointer right at the emblem image, "To say they are a rather patriotic team serving their royal highness would fit their image just right."

The image on the presentation flickered to a blank page, "The 3rd RTR Tankery team is commandeered by their leader, Regimental Sergeant Major John Montgomery, an eighteen year old with quite a history in the Tankery field." The image transitioned to Montgomery's face, one that would fit in a yearbook. He had the same brown beret that Miho and the others saw him with the first time they met, though now Miho recognized the 3rd RTR emblem on his beret. He was also wearing the same standard woodland camouflage that all the other cadets wear.

"His second-in-command is Company Sergeant Major Emma Brooke, a gifted sixteen year-old." Another image popped up with Emma's profile. The face caught Yukari's eyes, as if making sure the girl she fought the other day was indeed her. She didn't change much from her profile with her hair length and color, though the brown eyes were now even more glaring in this close-up image. "She's gotten herself quite a name in the Tankery community for her 'stalking' tendencies on the tank field. Her adversaries call her a 'Puma'. She's known to excel in tank destroyers!"

"So that's what happened during that practice match…" Miho said to herself; hand on her chin, as if a scenario was just explained to her on how it was committed and why.

"Alongside with these two are more than 150 cadets ready to ride their tanks into battle with them. In the 2nd round, the match vehicle limit has been raised to 35 tanks." Isabelle continued. "They're a determined foe, though not the worst that the tournament has to offer."

"Don't worry!" Kay said out loud, hand waving off any doubt. "We've got reserves to fill in the extra slots, and they'll be a piece of cake now that we've got actual intel on their tanks! ...Right?"

"That's true," Anzu piped up. "You managed to get an insight on what tanks they may have, right Yukari?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah…"

"Would you like to present those instead?" Isabelle asked Yukari.

"No, no, I'm fine here. Please continue."

"Alright then," Isabelle said, clicking on a remote control and the presentation moved along. "From the scouting mission we sent approximately two days ago, we managed to get a view on most, if not all, of the 3rd RTR cadet's inventory for their Tankery team." A click followed, with images popping up. "They've got tanks such as Cromwells, Fireflies, Comets, and Churchills…" Another click on the remote brought up another set of images, "Tank destroyers like the Achilles and Archers…" One more click brought up another set of curious images, "And the most conspicuous of all those in the hangar we found… armored cars."

"Armored cars?" Anchovy seemed to speak for the entire room.

"Yes it is," Isabelle reassured, sticking the pointer onto it. "An AEC armored car to be precise. And from the looks of this, it's a with a 6-pounder turret attached onto it."

"Is it legal to use?" Darjeeling said, looking as calmly as ever while drinking her tea.

"We looked into the database and it is. It's a legitimate vehicle to use in Tankery."

"But that's insane," Kay said, "Who'd want to bring a car to a tank fight?"

"Perhaps they are bringing it for reconnaissance duty?" Darjeeling said, her tea cup still in hand. "It's not unlike what Rosehip does with her Cromwells."

"Not to mention they are a lot smaller, easier to conceal," Aki from Continuation said. The petite girl made little presence with her small stature, but her opinion still weighed the same. "The 6-pounder on them can make them effective ambusher if they hit our sides."

"But we'll be in a forest…" Janne, the Continuation KV-1 commander spoke up, that's not a good environment for wheeled vehicles…"

"I second the idea of them using the cars as recon," Anchovy said, "It's pretty similar to how we use our tankettes as well."

The chatter behind the intended use of the armored cars spread throughout the room. It went on long enough that Miho was certain they probably weren't all on topic anymore. She tried to get attention among the commotion when a string instrument plucked loudly.

"How about anything we missed?" Mika said in a soothing voice said along with her kantele's melody, "Are we looking too close towards a large picture?"

"That's right, we've been focusing on the cars for too long," Miho said. "Was there anything else they had that's worth mentioning?"

"Yukari? Any inputs you want to add?" Isabelle asked, "You're our only field agent that was down there."

"Huh? Uh…" Yukari said, uneasy about being thrown into the spotlight. "Well… outside their garage, there was this large… thing they had hiding near the workshops."

"'Thing'? Do you know what it is?" Katyusha asked.

"I'm not sure…" Yukari answered. "But… they did have it under heavy guard, I was discovered trying to find out what it was."

"Any features you can point out?" Miho asked Yukari, intrigued at this development.

"It was large… much too big for a normal truck, and too wide as well…" Yukari recalled that night.

"I know! I know!" Anchovy shot up, arms held high as her cape flapped about. "It's one of their large food trucks, right!? That's where they keep all the rations for the camp!"

Silence filled the room.

"Anchovy, wha-? Are you…" Isabelle seemed to face palming beyond even her face.

"Well, it can't be a truck…" Yukari said, "It's doesn't have the squarish shape of one in the back. I couldn't make out what was underneath, but it seemed like part of it was… hanging out?"

"Hanging out?" Orange Pekoe asked.

"It looked like a rod of some sort…" Yukari said, "Just sticking out…"

"I know!" Kay said, "Like an enlarged man's d-"

"Okay, I think we're going a bit off topic now!" Isabelle quickly got the situation back underhand.

Under the bantering between the various commanders among each other, Miho couldn't help but give herself a small chuckle. After a tense moment last night, this kind of atmosphere was one the Miho liked to see in her Sensha-Dou match. It was a casual atmosphere, not a strict one like in Kuromormine, nor an authoritative one like in Pravda. It was all just a regular school time activity that can be taken lightly.

Though it seemed not many could take this friendly go-happy atmosphere. Isabelle looked exhausted as she made her way to Miho. "How do you handle this? This is worse than my team on a pizza-film night."

"Uh, well…" Miho tried to say, "I guess it just happens…?"

She simply groans as the noise level in the room rises, "And I thought Daniel was bad…" Perhaps the Ōarai Compound Team was just a bit too much for a 'normal' person.

* * *

After their lengthy discussion period in the conference room, the girls have reached a conclusion.

"While we have obtained vital information about the line-up of the 3rd RTR…" Miho said. "It's not nearly enough to form a concrete attack plan against it. I think we better consider the match area first before their possible attack force."

"Unfortunately, I agree," Isabelle said. Both she and Yukari were a tad bit dejected that the intel they work hard on just wasn't enough. It gave ease that there wasn't anything spectacular like another Black Prince or a Centurion tank, but the current information can't form solid strategies.

"Well then…" Anzu got up, "if that's the case, then we'd better continue our practice schedule for the match, right girls?" She said to the entire room.

"Right!" All the girls in the room unanimously agreed as they all got up, ready to go. The room clattered and chairs rattled as the crowd filed out towards the double doors. Miho, being closest to the door, was about to leave first before she heard,

"Yukari, a word please?" From Isabelle.

Curious, she told the rest of her team, "I'll catch you all outside, start up the Panzer IV."

"Okay then," Hana said as Miho brushed past her, taking a seat next to Yukari.

The room emptied in a good minute before the girls found out that they were the last three left in the room. Miho sat next to Yukari, which made her in front of her in the direction towards Isabelle. Isabelle, surprised by this predicament, walked towards Miho in a manner exhuming some annoyance.

"I thought I just said Yukari," Isabelle said, leaning in onto the Ōarai commander.

"Why does her business with you have to be confidential?" Miho asked with the same steel personality she showed last night.

Isabelle sighed as she returned to her normal posture, "Well, I guess this is for the best. I was going to go over a personal debrief over Yukari's performance in her solo infiltration."

"Solo-?" Miho said in disbelief, her fingers pinching between her nose bridge. "So not only did you take Yukari with you, but you sent her out there, alone?!"

"M-Miho! It's alright!" Yukari said, calming her friend in front of her. "I'm back in one piece, aren't I?"

Miho turned her chair towards Yukari, "But what if something goes wrong? You could've been alone out there!"

"I know what I was getting myself into, Miho. I knew the risks, and I still wanted to do it. I would have done it even if you told me not to."

Miho saw the determination in her friend's eyes. It wasn't one of the usual fan girl squee mode Yukari goes on, it was one with a goal and a willing to finish it. She took a moment to calm down, "Alright then…" Miho said, conceding to Yukari's wishes.

"May I continue?" Isabelle asked, sidelined by the two girl's moment.

"Yeah… go on."

"Okay. Yukari, your infiltration was rather superb. Even taking account the bad weather and horrible lighting on that part of the base, you moved like a pro. Most boys and girls in your shoes would catch chicken feet halfway in."

"O-oh really?" Yukari said about that praise, fluffing her hair with her hand bashfully. "I didn't think much of it…"

"And your fight against Emma…"

"You fought Emma?" Miho asked of this unusual situation.

"Yeah… it was a rough one," Yukari commented about the fight, her fingers twizzling with each other. "Maybe if I had a better weapon than a tranquilizer, I wouldn't have been so… scattered."

"Either way, the whole operation was a stunning success. I relayed the results of your solo infiltration back to the ACA. Daniel was very impressed."

"He thinks so? Heh heh…"

"He's willing to drop off some equipments for you to use next time you scout."

"If there's a next time," Miho slipped in. Isabelle made a mental note of Miho's protectiveness.

"What sort of equipment?" Yukari asked, curious on what other gadgets she may get to play with. If Isabelle's 'minimum' gear was a stealth suit and a tranquilizer gun already, who knows what else they had in stock?

"No specifics at the moment, but we'll receive them the day of the match," Isabelle explained. "But they'll be better than the ones I sent you with that night."

Yukari did a silent _Sweet!_ motion with her pumped arm. Her enthusiasm knows no bound.

"So Yukari, you did great, and I think everyone in the team would be happy for what you did to help them have a better fighting chance." Isabelle concluded in a rather charmful remark.

"Yeah," Miho chimed in. Despite her disapproval of the whole scenario, she couldn't hide that Yukari's achievements were pretty badass and noble. "You did good."

"Pretty good, huh?" Yukari said of herself.

"Well Yukari, I think that wraps up this little debriefing of ours. You're to return to your original assignment as a tanker."

Yukari playfully, yet at the same time quite seriously, stood up and gave Isabelle a salute. "Yes ma'am!" She yelled out in affirmative. "C'mon Miho, let's go!"

"I want to speak with Isabelle for a bit. You can go on ahead," Miho said.

"Oh… okay, see you at the tank field!" Yukari shouted before disappearing out of the room in a swift. Miho and Isabelle were now alone in the large, empty conference room.

"Don't think this is over between us two," Miho said.

"I know…" Isabelle said. "But y'know… Yukari, she's quite gifted."

"Gifted?" Miho rolled that word around in her mouth. That word had only been thrown about her skills in Sensha-Dou in the past and present, but to hear that for someone else now… made her interested.

"Miho…" Isabelle said, in a tone of uncomfort as she approached Miho. "I think I owe you a bigger apology than I gave you last night…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Yukari's little 'adventure'... wasn't the first in our history."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Miho… Before Yukari's attempt, we had seven different instances in the past when we tried to use solo-infiltration. They all failed."

Miho was stunned. From what she heard from Yukari and what Isabelle had told her, solo infiltration was a relatively new concept. An unproven concept, nonetheless, but a concept that just needed someone to try it out. But this...

"It wasn't a new trend in military strategies that caused the solo-infiltration concept to fail, it just flat out never worked." Isabelle continued somberly. "Yukari was the first time the solo infiltration concept worked, and I never told her of our failures."

Silence refilled the empty void between the two. Miho was becoming more than annoyed by this development, and the fact that someone from a foreign school is playing around with not just her teammate, but her friend, like a guinea pig in an experiment known with an extremely low survival chance. Something inside her filled, she clenched a fist, some sweat even began forming on her forehead. Miho looked at Isabelle with a look that even Isabelle became startled. Isabelle barely saw this look personally, but it reminded her of some of her TV shows with the customers angrily telling off their cashier for their unsatisfactory transaction. Miho was becoming more like that customer.

"Isabelle…" Miho finally said.

"Yes?"

"You better be damn worth having around here…" Miho then got up and left the room abruptly. As she left, the door banged shut behind her, the echo traveling through the empty room, leaving Isabelle behind to deal with the mess.

Isabelle, left alone in the room much too large for herself, suddenly felt a lot like the room itself, empty. A sense of regret suddenly swam over her. She only tasted bitterness as she figured out what to do next.

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

"Agh… I'm so dumb! Why did I say that?" Miho ruffled her hair over and over.

After cooling off a moment from that conversation, Miho could think rationally again. The only thing that stuck with her was that she told off Isabelle, a senior and instructor to her. Not only that, she left before Isabelle could say anything in her defense.

Miho reluctantly made her way to the tank field. Her team was waiting for her, but Miho knew Isabelle and the other instructors would be there. Her mind was filled with words, dialogues, apologies, something to explain to Isabelle that she had come to biting her words she spat out at her.

She made her way outside and saw the rest of the team already starting their practice routine out in the field. The dust kicked up in the distance showed they've been at it for a while. First time a team commander's been late to her own team's practice session.

"Miporin! Over here!" Saori called out to her, waving from the Panzer IV inside the garage. They were all waiting for her! She started to run towards the Panzer IV.

"I see even the Legend has to take the time to catch up with the story," a familiar voice came to her side as soon as she crossed the open garage door. Miho yelped to see Isabelle leaning on the hangar wall, tapping on a smart tablet.

"Isabelle…" Miho said her name softly. All the rehearsed thoughts from before was blown away by this surprised encounter. Miho was left with nothing but to be upfront and personal. "I-I'm sorry about what I said earlier… I didn't mean to…"

"That's alright," Isabelle calmly said, her attention still on the tablet as she closed it up on an attached case. She got off from the wall and looked at Miho, "You had every right to be angry at me."

"I-I know, but… I didn't, well, want to come off that rudely…"

"We all have an inner demon of some sort, Miho. No need to be ashamed." Isabelle said, now near Miho. "I'm not a good girl either. All I've ever wanted was for the ACA to excel. Now that we're done in this tournament, I want Ōarai to succeed."

She brushed her hair aside. "It's hard to break out of my bad habits. I'm sorry they're affecting your daily routine."

"Isabelle…" Miho looked at the girl in front of her. She was quite a different character from the boisterous and sportsman personality emitted by Daniel. She was one willing to do what she could to reach her end goal. Someone with an agenda, someone who has to know she's gone a bit too far. "I know you're trying your best for us, but we all have standards and reasonable expectations from our teammates. I just don't want you to get anyone hurt by making them go too far from what they are used to."

Isabelle seemed to take the words well, simply nodding in agreement as Miho finished. "Alright… alright," she said softly. Isabelle looked at Miho up close, though with an expression Miho found a tad… different. Isabelle then chuckled, "Alright, I hear you, 'Legend'. I'll keep myself in check."

"Thanks, but you can just call me Miho."

Isabelle smiled, then threw a rather informal "farwell" salute with two fingers as she walked, "Later Miho." Miho watched her walk off, glad that she was able to amend the relationship.

"Nishizumi-dono! Are you coming?!"

"Coming!" Miho yelled, running along to join her friends in the tank.

* * *

 **Tank Garage #2, Ōarai Carrier**

Fire crack down range as tanks blast their cannons towards each other. The teams have started shifting practice to fire-and-maneuver tactics, one side laying down a steady amount of cannon fire while another maneuver closer to surround the enemy. This type of movement, however, is best suited to tanks with rapid-fire capability, so two-piece or heavy ammunition tanks like the IS-2 and KV-2 were sidelined during those exercises.

When Anglerfish's Panzer IV return to the break area, Miho took note of the IS-2 commander, it's original commander.

"Nonna! You're back!" Miho happily received the return of the cold Pravda sniper.

"Yes, I am." Nonna replied nonchalantly.

"How's your hearing, are you alright now?"

"Yes, it is fine now. Thanks for asking."

"You had us all really worried about you, especially Katyusha."

"Katyusha? Oh, so she was…" Nonna seemed to go a bit absent upon hearing that, smiling to herself in her own little world.

"Well, you take care now."

"Das vidanya," Nonna gave the usual Russian goodbye.

Miho went to go check on the others. Cannon and gunfire crack off in the distance as she moved away towards the garage. Inside the garage, she sees Saunder busily getting their new tanks into commission.

The M4A3E2 "Jumbo" Assault tanks would be quite an improvement in Ōarai's line-up in the tournament. Their armor has been welded over to reach about 100 mm, but the sloped angle gave it a line-of-sight thickness of about 150 mm. Though their armament are still the usual 75 mm cannon on the Shermans, the increased survivability means they can get more chances to fire off a killing shot. She sees various Saunder crew members, as well as Leopon, getting these tanks into shape. On one of the tanks, a boisterous blonde girl jumped off the engine deck of one of the metal beasts. "So Miho, how's our odds looking now?"

"It's great! These Jumbos would be a great help! Thank you for all of your efforts!"

"Eh, it's no biggie. Aside from that, I've mobilized the other Sherman ready for your team. All of them bring up a total of… 33 tanks, so you're going to find another two to use."

"I'm sure Pravda has some T-34s they can use in their ranks, I'll ask Katyusha about that later."

"Great! Man, can't wait to see how powerful the whole Dandelion force is now!" Kay said excitedly. It's clear she's spent a lot of time and anticipation on these new Jumbos.

"Alright, I'm going to check on the others now Kay. You get these tanks ready and practicing on the field as soon as possible, okay?"

"Kay, Okay!" Kay playfully saluted, as if proud of saying that.

Miho smiled as she moved on to the other part of the garage. Some Pravda crew were among themselves near their idle T-34 tanks. Next were the tank slots for Continuation's tanks. Putting the two school's tank together didn't make any side happy, with Pravda still accusing Continuation of stealing a tank of theirs. It's mostly side bickering, but Miho worried it may grow into an issue at the worst time possible, like at the battlefield. One Continuation tank, the one in question actually, was in the garage being tended to by its crew.

"The KV-1 breaks down a lot, huh?" Miho asked.

"I'd say!" A short girl with blue hair reaching to the nape of her neck said as she got up from the engine deck. "Bastard's a lot of trouble to work with!"

"Mind your manners, Matti," The tank commander, Janne, says from on top of the KV turret, her blonde hair swishing around longer than shoulder-length. She was of average height, and when she got down and stood on the hull roof, she was much taller than the KV turret itself. "How can I help you, commander?"

"Nothing, I'm just making my rounds. How's your tank, anything I can do for you?"

"Oh no, thanks, commander. But we learn to try and be self-reliant with beasty here so we know how to take care of it on the field." She then faced to the crew on the tank, "Ain't that right, girls?"

The three girls simply groaned. Aside from Matti, there were two other girls. One brunette with her hair tied in a long pony tail and a redhead with short boyish hair.

"They don't seem to be enjoying it…" Miho commented.

"Yeah, well, 'Beasty' here is a bit of a bitch to drive."

"How so?" Miho asked.

"Well, Matti, our driver there, has a hammer on her side on all times to move the gear lever."

"Wow, that bad?" Miho reminisce her time in Kuromormine when they had foreign-equipment practice with T-34s, and she thought that was tough!

"Yeah, I'd hate to be one of those poor bastards in the KV-2 though. Thing's a nightmare to use on slope to add to that."

"Umm, if I may," Miho inquired. "What's the deal between Pravda and Continuation, anyways? You two always seem to have a bad blood. It can't be because of just this tank, is it?"

"Oh, that? Well, partially," Janne said. "It involved the match that we got the KV-1 more so."

"What happened during that time?"

"As law of nature, or Sensha-Dou, goes; the weak would always be vanquished by the strong. Pravda and Kuromormine were almost undefeated gods in the Sensha-Dou field."

"Yeah."

"So it was during the 60th Sensha-Dou National Tournament that Continuation 'did their deed' against Pravda."

"How so?" Miho was curious. She wasn't around during that time, but she kept tabs on the news and she didn't remember anything happening with Pravda. That or, of course, they wouldn't publicize a humiliating event.

"Well, we… ah, kinda bended the rules. Y'see, on that match, we brought ourselves a surplus of student into the match."

"But, why?"

"Because, well, there are rules against the number of tanks you can bring in, but no rules on the number of people. So we snuck in a few people, planning to use them as scouts so they can report where each of Pravda's tanks were at a given area and time. A certain ambitious squad found several Pravda crew members to be careless in their security. They were resting outside of their tanks, one of which was a KV-1."

"Uh oh." Miho knew that was trouble. In Kuromormine, she was taught never to leave the tanks unsecured.

"They jumped at it. Got into the KV-1, fired it up, and blasted a good load of Pravda tanks to kingdom come."

"How brave."

"Yeah, and it worked for a good while too. Pravda never got an idea that it was one of their own tanks destroying them. They picked their tank off one by one until they were knocked out."

"Oh, that must've been a shock to them."

"And after the match, apparently there was some fluke in the mechanics or format because before anyone knew it, that KV-1 became the rightful property of Continuation."

"So that's why Mika always said, you guys never 'stole' it."

"It was a loophole of some sort, I dunno. I didn't expect it when I jumped it."

An applaud came from the KV-1 in question, "Whoo, yeah, way to go commander. As if we hadn't heard that story 10 times already."

"You all are killjoys, you know that?"

"Well, that was an interesting story, Janne," Miho said. "Thanks for the explanation. I must be off now."

"No problem, we'll see you later on the field. Hey Matti! Get back to work!"

Miho simply heard them rattling with their business as she carried on with her inspection.

* * *

 **Tank Garage #1, Ōarai Carrier**

Inside the original tank garage for Ōarai's tanks, another type of lesson was being carried out.

"You girls are getting better, but there are still problems with this arrangement!" Hawkins said, inspecting each of the Ōarai tanks involved in the lesson. Each tanks were covered in the new camo nets, with the crew's addition to it visibly seen in the array of leaves, vines, and sticks attached to it. However, Miho could see something wrong with each of them, which Hawkins was pointing out individually.

"Hippo! All these foliage is interfering with your optics. How are you going to see at all when on the move?"

"We'll move with our heads exposed to see!" Erwin said.

"Then what about the gunner? How is she going to aim with all this?"

Silence.

"Fix that, okay?" Hawkins said as she moved onto a tank next. "Rabbit team! I'd think your Lee would look like a fantastic tree."

The team seem to be skitty on an anticipated praise.

"But this large pink rabbit in the front is basically saying 'Shoot me!' There isn't much point in all this camouflage if the paint is still going to go through!"

"But it's cute~" Karina whined.

"Either cover it up next time or give the camo nets to someone else," Hawkins said before moving on to the next tank. "Anteater…"

"Y-Yes?" Nekonya meekly replied.

"How on earth did you get _logs_ onto your camo net…?"

"Umm… by lifting them?" Momoga said.

"With a crane?"

"Nope, with these guns!" Momoga flexed her arms. A visible bulge in the muscles appears, startling Hawkins for a second.

"Well, logs definitely give the tank a camouflage specialty, but the logs will prevent any traversing of the turret! It'll work fine if you're taking on a tank destroyer role, but be prepared to work your butt off constantly if you need to keep replacing the pieces of camouflage."

"Yes ma'am!"

Hawkins moved on to the last vehicle in the row. "Turtle team, you're not covering enough of the yellow paint. It'll keep standing out like that."

"Aw. Momo, see? Told you we should've added more vines."

"Prez! The only vines there were poison ivy!"

"Why do we have poison ivy growing there then? I thought the garden management was better than that."

"A-hem, girls," Hawkins attempted to grab their attention. "Well, that yellow paint on the Hetzer is quite conspicuous in the woods, so you'll have to do a better job on covering that, alright? And don't cover the driver's vision port as well."

Hawkins returned to the center of the garage. "You're all improving, and show a great understanding in the basics of camouflage. But you're not all ready for battlefield application yet. Learn from the mistakes here, not on the battlefield, and you'll become a better practitioner in the future. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Hawkins finally looked behind and saw Miho standing there, "Ah, The Legend has arrived."

"I'd prefer if I wasn't called that," Miho said.

"My apologies. How do you think of these lessons?"

"They're very helpful. Thank you, Ms. Hawkins."

"Please, just Hawkins or Helena is fine."

"Oh, right…"

"Maybe you'd like a private lesson as well in some skills in Tankery? We're always here to help."

"I'll think about it, thank you Hawkins."

"Don't mention it, just call me whenever."

Miho approached the other team members now here learning from Hawkins. "How'd you think of the lessons?" She asked each one of them.

"Enlightening!" Caesar replied.

"Tiring!" Azusa replied.

"I-interesting to know how camo indexes work in real life…" Nekonya replied.

"Frustrating!" Momo replied.

"So, Miho, how goes the Ōarai team?" Anzu asked Miho whilst eating a dried sweet potato.

"Everyone is working hard for the upcoming match!" Miho explained.

"Good! I trust you have the whole thing under control for the match?"

"Yes, I will!"

"I'm happy to hear that. It's a lot harder being a Sensha-Dou captain than a student council president y'know? If you need any help, don't be afraid to let us know!"

"O-Okay!" Miho said. "I have to be off now!"

"Of course you do! Good luck!"

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho was on her way back to her Panzer IV when she saw an unusual scene. Yukari and Isabelle facing off against each other. Yukari lunged in a form of grab, only for Isabelle to quickly turn it around and put Yukari in a chokehold. Miho sprinted towards the situation. "Hey! What's going on here?!"

"O-oh! Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari said while in the chokehold before Isabelle released her.

"What's going on?" Miho asked again.

"Oh, Isabelle's giving me some private lessons on close-quarter combat."

"Close-quarters…?"

"Yeah, you see, during my infiltration, sorry, scouting; I told you I had to fight Emma, but we fought pretty close and she grabbed me. I didn't know much so all I could do was flail around. Isabelle offered to help me learn a few moves! Watch! Hey, Isabelle!"

Yukari braced herself as Isabelle entered a fighting stance. Isabelle rushed forward, attempting to grab Yukari. In a quick succession, Yukari then blocked the grab, grabbed Isabelle by the shirt and tripped her with her legs, sending her tumbling down hard onto the dirt.

"See that?" Yukari said, rather proud of herself. "And one more. Isabelle?"

Isabelle got up and turned her back on Yukari. Yukari moved closer, as if sneaking up to her. Despite Isabelle being a head taller than Yukari, an arm flashed out and grabbed Isabelle by the neck. Yukari had put her in a chokehold, enhanced by kicking Isabelle's legs to bring her down to Yukari's level. However, Isabelle quickly tapped out, and when Yukari released her, she was gasping.

"Too hard!" She said, "You could've choked me out."

"Whoops! Sorry!"

"You got the technique. You just need to learn control next, that'll take a few days."

"Yes ma'am!" Yukari said, before turning to Miho. "So what do you think?"

Miho could only nod, "I think that's pretty ninja."

"Ha, ninja? Please, not like that…" Yukari said, happy that at least Miho praising her skills.

"Let me try."

"Nishizumi-dono?"

"C'mon, Isabelle must be tired. Try it on me."

"Umm… okay?" Yukari was reluctant as she approached Miho.

"So, I attack first by grabbing, right?" Miho asked.

"Y-yes, Nishizumi-dono."

"Okay…" Miho steadied herself as she entered a battle stance similar to Isabelle's. At least, what she could remember.

"You have any martial arts training?" Isabelle asked Miho.

"Well, Kuromormine had a rather strict martial arts class next to Sensha-Dou. But it's been a while…."

"Alright then, I'm sure you'll be able to handle yourself."

"Ready, Nishizumi-dono?"

"Ready, Yukari." And with that, Miho lunged. She extended her right arm out as Yukari dodged, moving too fast to be blocked. Yukari still use the chance to counter-grab Miho and proceed to trip her. However, something sparked. In a flash, Miho soon found herself above Yukari instead.

"H-Huh?"

"Ergh…."

"Oh! Yukari, I'm sorry! I… wha?"

"What just happened…?" Yukari moaned as Miho helped her up.

"Wow," Isabelle simply said in astonishment. "Yukari grabbed you, was about to trip you, but it looked like you shift your body weight enough that you practically pulled her under you, letting her take the fall instead."

"O-oh, uh, I… I, I'm sorry! I don't know my strength!" Miho tried to apologize to Yukari.

"Ha ha, that's alright. Wow, maybe you really are a 'legend', huh?" Yukari said as she ached with a little pain.

"Let's take a break, okay?"

The three unanimously agreed on that.

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho was in her apartment, tired from the last few days of practice with the tanks and the extra lessons the girls took with the instructors. They've gone a bit overtime in practice routine to make sure they have everything down. Now there was only one night before the match, and Miho felt wasted. After soaking herself in the apartment's bath, even after the Sensha-Dou team's usual after-practice soak, she still felt a bit sore under her muscles. She still had some last minute detail-hunting to do though, so she hit up on the internet for information on their aforementioned match location.

Quebec was the largest province in Canada, a commonwealth country. With contact to the sea on three sides of the province with the Hudson Bay, James Bay, Hudson Strait, Ungava Bay, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, getting to their destination would be easy. She looked up the coordinates Anzu gave her, and found the location to be on the small peninsula area extending off near New Brunswick into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. How exactly their tanks would go from there to the match location was now in the hands of the International League.

Miho then looked up images of the forests in Quebec to get an idea of the main setting of the match. An array of coniferous trees, with a few deciduous trees as well in the mixture. The leaf color of these trees range from the usual green, to the strange yellow and red, though the latter two color are of a minority. Their forests were a rather strange bunch in comparison to what Miho was used to the usual imagery of the word "forest".

"I wonder if those camo nets would even be useful like this…" Miho said to herself. The different colors of the forest she saw would be hellish to try to camouflage and move, but the different colors would help break up perception in a distance. Either way, visibility in the forest with no clearing would be quite hellish. Encounters in this environment would be either an ambush, surprise-encounter, or a seek-and-destroy. All require quick reactions and an unwavering attack. She hopes everyone was up to this task, it wasn't like the long-range engagement like in the Mojave.

She sighed. Her workload has certainly increased since the nationals. Miho felt an aching in her head, something she hasn't felt in a long while. But the headache wasn't one of simple discomfort from stress. A nagging feeling, as if something was really wrong with the scenario.

The description of what Yukari gave of the… thing the British had under the tarps gave her some concerns, but even with her focus on it, that feeling hasn't lightened up at all. It pounded on her head like something was poking it. Fortunately, it would come and go at various intervals, but Miho was uneasy.

She tried to think of other things, hoping it would go away. The issue with Isabelle, fighting the cadets tomorrow, Yukari's sneaking tendencies, her sister. In the moment of recall, Miho suddenly started wondering where in the heck was her sister. She checked her flip phone and saw her usual notifications. There were messages from school, her friends, and the such, but nothing from her sister and Kuromormine. She had messaged a few of her friends and acquaintances still at Kuromormine like Koume, but they had all adopted a dead silence just like her sister.

"Just what are you up to big sister…?" Miho incessantly wondered to herself. She wished she had an answer, but no one seemed to know. Miho was very tempted to file for a missing person report, but there were still possibilities of a simple cut in communication that could be the case. She didn't want to take things too extreme just yet.

Despite that, her worry of her sister continued to grow as she laid on her bed. The light shining in from the full moon disappearing underneath the new night clouds that appeared on the horizon.

* * *

 **Quebec, Canada**

On the wee morning hours, the Ōarai carrier arrived at the landmass containing their match location. Due to the lack of abled port to hold the carrier, they ferried the tanks onto Quebec. From there, the tanks traveled by rail to their destination deep inside a forest, arriving at a station that also served as a gathering place for people wanting to watch the match in-person.

The Ōarai Compound Team had mostly brought their same tanks they brought during the Mojave match against the Americans, but with the new vehicle limit now at 35, Miho had elected to bring a few more. As Sunflower was pretty strong as is and Jasmine being quite unorthodox as is, Miho chose for Saunder to fill in the slots with their Shermans for Dandelion to strengthen the group. As the League work crew unload the 35 tanks at the station for the Ōarai Compound Team, the school girls stood there waiting, conversing with each other.

"It's rather chilly," Saori noted as a breeze past by, rustling the tree leaves surrounding them. She was shivering under tanker uniform.

"Well, we are up north…" Hana said, rubbing her gloved hands together.

"Suppose you rather have the winter cold against Pravda?" Mako pitched in, her unmoving face doesn't match with the slight shiver her body is emitting.

"Oh no! Anything but that!" Saori protested.

"It shouldn't be that bad," Yukari said, her body expression the usual as though she wasn't affected by the weather, "we're wearing the same exact gears as the time against Pravda, just without the snow tracks."

"It's alright girls," Miho said, "Once we get inside the tanks, our blood will be pumping and we won't even feel the cold!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Miporin."

"Still, this forest environment… Nishizumi-dono, do you think we can handle this?"

Miho looked out on the forest area they were in. Thankfully, it wasn't as colorful as she thought so there was an uniformity in color to allow usage of camouflage, but the forest was so dense it was like there was only one opening in the trees for the tanks to cross. "I'm sure there would be a better way around. I'll find out when I get the field map."

"I hope so. This looks worse than the Ardennes of 1940."

"Miho," Isabelle called out from her side.

"Isabelle! Should you be here? Wouldn't the League suspect you of helping us? No registered teams should be helping others right?"

"Ah, you know, they don't really enforce that rule much anyways. Besides, lots of members from other teams sometime catch these other matches to watch for fun in person, or gain intel. There's a private viewing area for those people."

"Oh, okay then."

"I wish you luck out there, Miho. I didn't think much of the terrain here, and I didn't think it was going to be this bad. You're pretty much on your own from here on out."

"Thanks for the help anyways, Isabelle."

"Don't mention it. I'll be off now. See you after the match."

"Take care!" Miho said as Isabelle walked off to a location unknown.

"So we could've just scouted in person on the day of the match?" Yukari asked.

"Not very effective though. You'd only see the vehicles they have at the time they fight their opponent, but they could switch it up to throw someone off who just looks at the matches."

Suddenly, an accented voice spoke behind Miho. "Well, well well. If it isn't the tournament's shining glory…"

Miho couldn't mistake that voice as anyone else, even if the last time she's heard it was during the tournament selections. "Mr. Kraus." She said as she turned to the source of the voice. Axel Kraus stood like a wall despite being only slightly taller than Miho's height. He wore a large German World War II-standard greatcoat to dress for the weather. To his right, Hans Wittman stood by in nearly the same attire aside from his Einheitsfeldmütze M43 visor cap, which contrasted to the black-banded Schirmmütze peaked cap that Kraus wore. Miho also noted that just like their first meeting, Wittman seemed to have an eye on Miho. "What brings the two of you all the way out here?" She said in as best of a friendly manner as she could muster.

"Well..., your performance on television is quite more substantial than what I was initially led to believe. I decided I wanted to see that for myself."

"Well, I'm glad we're able to grab the attention of the likes of you," Mako said.

"Hmph!" Kraus sounded rather offended by that statement. "Well, I look forward to the match you have here. I hope it's as good as it was when I saw it and not 'television magic'. It was quite a show after you sent Marshall to the hospital."

Miho froze when reminded of that debacle. "It wasn't my fault…" She said softly.

"Oh? Isn't everything supposed to be hinged on the commander? Your team's activity, your reputation, your name… all that is suppose to be held against your shoulder. Now look at you, Miho Nishizumi, you're a team commander who not only refused to take accountability for her actions, but also threw out her name heritage two years ago!"

"Hey!" Saori shouted as the rest of her team butted in, defending a stunned Miho from this madness. "What's your deal with her? We all make mistakes, right?! So what if she messes up a few time?!"

"What if…? What if!?" Kraus was fuming now. "You girls know nothing about the impact of Tankery in this world. School boards, politicians, even leaders fall and bend down underneath the International League's tankery! Not even the new aviation sports have come to the same level! Tanks has been the key to modern warfare since its inception and nothing will ever make it obsolete!"

He gripped his hand in a fist while speaking as if to an audience, the other Ōarai team members were also taking notice of this attention. "But it all stays that way only if it remains a key part of this world! My school, Carius Academy, has been the shining stone of Tankery for decades! I, like the many Captains of Carius beforehand, have been a core part of establishing the dominance of Tankery in this world! Capitalism, communism, terrorism! All that can bow under Tankery! We are the supreme example of the power of Tankery and its influence in the world!"

He pointed very angrily and accusingly at Miho, "But as soon as you! You! Legend! Showed up on the world table with Ōarai, you shattered us! A third-year high school student who led a no-name school to victory not once, but twice! Against immeasurable odds, was able to win! Our integrity was shaken! Suddenly, our name meant very little next to you and your so called 'Ōarai' school. You became the rallying cry for many smaller school's Tankery team, you showed the world that anyone could take the reins of tankery. Our control over Tankery has weakened, and so has its stability, because of you!"

Miho was in a state of shock. She tried processing everything she's hearing. Has her name really affected the world's Tankery that badly?

But Kraus wasn't finished. "Our credibility has been shattered, you 'Legend', but it's by no means irreparable. We can prove you're just a fluke, a fraud, a mistaken prophet, with these coming weeks. I have taken it to personal accounts that you will be defeated by us! Though, it'll be much easier for us if you just be removed from the picture beforehand."

"You're all just vain, aren't you? Isn't this tournament all just an exhibition?" Hana asked.

"I wouldn't expect an outsider pleb like you to understand. If you truly did, you would all had forfeited before the letter of acceptance even left the League's office."

"If you think… you can just run around amok… just because you're strong…" Miho said, softly, but with a hint of disturbance.

"Hmm?"

Miho looked at Kraus with a sense of confidence, something she found hard to tap into. She was still shocked, but no longer about how the world's been affected by her 'rise in name'. No, she was shocked that this world, the whole world issue of Tankery, is run by some nut who believes that the strong must remain on top. No, that did not conform to Miho's style of Sensha-Dou, not at all. "You think the law of nature runs around with you, that the strong will always beat the weak. Well Kraus, I think it's time I show everyone that even a tiger could be beaten by a rat."

"Uh, yeah! You tell him, Miporin!"

Kraus scoffed, "So you finally show some pride. Well then, 'Legend', I hope I see you on the battlefield then so I can personally make you eat your words."

"I hope so too, ditto." Miho replied.

"Come, Wittman! Let us join the audience and watch the 'Legend's' spectacle on screen. Let the movie magic play out for her and her squadettes." His unbuttoned coat waved with his motion as he turned and adjusted his hat. As began walking away. Wittman stuck around and his words spoke to Miho.

"I'd recommend keeping this mood when you get to us," He said rather softly, yet still heavy on the German-accent. "An, uh, _angry_ Nishizumi, makes for a better game."

"H-Huh?"

"Have a good match," Wittman finished before he turned and followed Kraus out.

As soon as the two were out of earshot, Saori exploded, "Those two are real assholes!" Saori cut loose on her 'lady' limits and spouted her feelings, hands swinging as Mako became caught up in her arm length. "What is up with this world and Tankery, creating those two jackasses?!"

"Yeah…" Miho said. For once, she'd actually really want to show those two that she was more than just a name. She found herself stumbling backwards

"You alright, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked catching her, once again shaken by Miho's rather strange personality earlier.

"I-I'm fine…" Miho shook her head, as if evil spirits clung on her. "I… just lost myself for a bit."

Miho caught her breath. She just notice she was breathing heavily. What a strange reaction, she's never had this against any adversary before. Then again, her past main adversary were rather tame compared to Axel Kraus. Against Kuromormine in the nationals, the worst they had was that some of their team members thought she was a traitor and by that means, Miho understood and could sympathize. Against University in the bid to save the school, Alice and Miho had no ill will at all, just two tankers put in the match and asked to duke it out.

Kraus… Kraus on the other hand, was pure antagonism. Miho was fighting Kraus on the analogy of, as she said, a rat being hunted by a tiger. Not only that, she couldn't understand his reason of hostility. A culture clash perhaps? No matter, Miho had recognize Kraus as a bigger enemy than anyone she's fought before, and she felt that some rule on her was lifted.

"Cheer up, Miho," Hana said to Miho, "I'm sure he's always like this to any small-time schools. You're only different because of your, well, name."

"You think?" Miho asked.

"Well, no… But I'm sure he has a more rational reason for this rather extreme rivalry."

"Doubt it," Mako said, rubbing on an area on her forehead where Saori smacked her. "That man's got some serious issue."

While the rest of her team was talking about Kraus specifically, Miho was somewhat curious on the short words Wittman gave her. What did he mean?

"Excuse me," A man from the loading crew came up to Miho and the others, "We've finished the standard unloading process for your tanks. We would need you to drive them to your starting location in the match."

"O-okay!" Miho said, "Everyone! Let's get to business!" She cried out loud for everyone to hear.

* * *

The Ōarai tanks rumbled to their starting location of the match. The place looked no different than the area where they arrived. A whole lot of trees. The map given to Miho by the referee also didn't make much sense on a quick glance. There was a clearing cutting through the forest as part of a river, and the forested area was varying in elevation as well.

"This match is going to be troublesome…" Miho said to herself. She had all the team organized the same way as in the previous match, and there was no changing it now. This match is going to need coordinated support between all the groups to go well.

The Panzer IV came to a halt, alongside the rest of the team. Everyone got out and viewed with awe at the beauty of being in the depths of the forest.

"Wow, it's so pretty!" Azusa said from the cupola of Rabbit's M3 Lee.

"Hey, look! A squirrel!" Someone inside the Lee shouted.

"This certainly looks worse than the Ardennes…" Someone from Hippo team's StuG III said.

"Not a very good place for any volleyball practice!"

"I-I can't get any wi-fi service out here!"

"The leaves aren't going to be good for the track traction!"

Miho looked to the distant west, where the opposing side would be according to the map.

"I don't think a jeep will be carrying anyone through the woods here," Yukari said.

"The terrain wouldn't be good for that," Miho said. Then a thought came to her head, was all the talk about the armored cars the other day for nothing?

"Miho!" A voice cried out from the woods.

"Huh?" Miho looked where the voice came from. Just off in the woods, no discernible direction.

"Ummm…" Saori waited for something to happen, but aside from the rustling of the leaves, there was nothing.

A figure, no, two figures approached from under the horizon of the forest hill. In this wooded environment, their camouflage worked the best here, the only way to discern their presence was their movement. One was a tall man with blond hair covered by his brown beret. Though his uniform blended into the forest well, various patches like the now-known 3rd Royal Tank Regiment emblem showed as well as the flag of the United Kingdom. The figure next to him, shorter, with her shoulder-length haired seemed to walk up in normal fashion… then took on a sprint. Miho and the other girls got more and more concerned as she sprinted closer to them.

"Yukari Akiyama!" The dashing British cried out as she ran towards them. Yukari jumped upon hearing it, yelping and hiding behind Miho Nishizumi. That didn't stop her as she rounded the body shield, and Yukari made off in a dash around towards the Panzer IV. "I'm gonna kill you, Yukari!"

"Aye! What did I do?!" Yukari said as they ran in circles around the Anglerfish crew and their tank.

"And then I'm going to roast your tank! Roast it with all the ammo! I'll be cooking s'mores on the brisking fire with your corpse in there!"

"Well, that's a bit extreme… What did I do?!"

"GAAH! Just get back here! You know what you did!" Emma continued yelling, chasing Yukari.

"Emma, knock it off…" Montgomery said as he approached the Anglerfish crew, a sign of bemusement in his face.

"H-Hi Montgomery," Miho greeted the tall British cadet, still stunned by the unprecedented… situation.

"Ah, hello. You'll have to forgive Emma, she's real pissed after what your friend did to her the other night."

"May I ask what she did?"

"She put Emma to sleep with tranquilizers on our tank hangar floor about three days ago and left her there. When we went in the morning to get our tanks ready for transport, we found her lying asleep next to her Achilles. Unfortunately, she became a source of multiple teasing by various mischievous members of our cadets. It's mostly stopped, but stories get attached and now people are calling her 'Sleeping Kitty'"

"Slee-? Oh, that would be quite embarrassing." Miho says as another scream came from the two girls running amok.

"Yeah, you can say she's…. got a small score to settle with Yukari."

Miho looked at the two. Emma got Yukari in a chokehold as they struggle about near the Panzer IV.

"Emma, don't kill her just yet. You need to beat her in the tank battle first to earn back your brownie points." Montgomery said to his ferocious second-in-command.

Emma released Yukari from her grasp, with Yukari gasping for breath, holding on her neck where the grip was slightly hard. Emma extended a hand out, Yukari examined it for anymore funny business, to then which she took and Emma hoisted her up. Emma just stared at the newly-beaten up Yukari, then fist-bumped her on the shoulder. "See you in the match…" She says in a near grit as she trailed off. "Oh, hey Legend."

 _So offhandedly?_ Miho thought, before wondering why she would get so worked up over how her so-called title was used.

"Anyways Miho, back to business," Montgomery said, steering the whole situation back to the match at hand as he extended a hand out. "Let's have a good match."

"Yes," Miho said, grabbing the hand. "Let's have a good match!"

Montgomery smiled warmly, the same smile he always bore. "Come Emma, you can do your deed on the battlefield."

"Yes sir!" Emma said, marching off with Montgomery.

"You alright Yukari?" Miho directed her direction to her exhausted friend.

"I think she took off 10 years of my life with that…" Yukari said, still breathing in lost air.

"Alright then," Miho said to herself as she got down to business. "Call all the school team captains, it's time for an operation briefing."

* * *

"So what's the plan here, Miho?" Kay twirled her long, blonde hair around in her fingers, staring eagerly at Miho while sitting on a foldable chair she brought.

"Alright," Miho said, examining the map laid out on the ground. "The playing field is pretty random. There are no discernible landmarks at all around here except this river running here." She pointed at the river, which was the only real sign of direction on the map. From her map perspective and based on the elevation slope, the river starts its flow on the southwest portion of the map. The river follows a course of a bold squiggle, making various small turns, sometimes large ones. There was a large specific S portion of the river in the middle of the map before turning into a straight line heading to the northeast. The river seemed to cut through the forest like a knife, as in the area it was in, the ground has a large clearing from the cluster of trees all around. Meaning it was a good place for a view, as well as a good place to be spotted. "Aside from the river, we have these tiny dirt roads spread out the entire sector, each one following a fixed path. All end up near the river though."

"We're quite constricted…" Katyusha said, examining the map from atop Nonna's shoulders. "Not good for a deep-entrenched defense or a flanking maneuver."

"Not to mention a disadvantage even with speed," Mika replied, though not before pulling a few strings on her Kantele as usual. "Even if we move quickly deep into the woods, the restricted nature of the map means our movement can easily be predicted."

"I don't get it, why are we stuck on the roads?" Nishi asked rather naively.

"Nishi, tanks can't maneuver that well in the woods. Our tracks could get bogged down and the closed nature of the woods really restrict our path on what we can take." Kay tried to explain.

"I see! So it's about squeezing in between the trees?"

"It's not that simple, but that's the main problem. Even our Stuarts would have a hard time managing it here."

"If we could bulldoze our way through, it would clear a path for us," Darjeeling said. "The Churchill has enough horsepower for that job."

"No, that'd just give our attack position away. Besides, you'd still only clear a single pathway through, not a large area for an offensive." Katyusha asked. "We'd be asking for an ambush to happen."

"So what do we do then, commander?" Darjeeling ask of Miho.

Miho wondered. Kuromormine had a strategy with the woods, she was on the receiving end of it. They simply barged through. But unlike that instance where they simple crashed through to reach the plains on the other end, here had endless amounts of trees. The only plains were near the river, but the width between the both sides was only about 300 meters, quite a close quarter battle. Tanks in the woods could also snipe from within and take out any tanks attempting to cross or attack in the clearing. Those tanks stuck in the woods would then be nigh impossible to find if they can conceal their muzzle flashes. Either way, there had to be a general step of procedures, or they'd all be going random.

"Okay, let's do this. Sunflower will take up the main thrust again. This time, they'll be heading to this clearing here in the middle." Miho pointed at the S shaped river turns near the center of the map. "They have to attract as much of the enemy's attention as possible. We want them to attack us at this point, it's the best clearing and we could get a terrain advantage on our side."

"Create noise? How? You want us to go in gun blasting?" Katyusha asked.

"If that's what it takes!" Miho affirmed. "Jasmine and Dandelion will support Sunflower in their assault. Make sure the enemy doesn't completely surround Sunflower. We'll have Jasmine take the south flank to use the large wooded area to gain a good sniper's nest to cover this entire clearing."

"Perfect, we'll get there and set up camp on the whole valley from there," Anzu said, seeing where Miho was going.

"Dandelion, you have to go through the north flank. If Jasmine could create enough noise, you're bound to receive the least brunt of the enemy's counterattack. Dandelion will then either support Sunflower from the North or breakthrough the enemy's side defenses and hit them hard from behind. With the extra and upgraded tanks from Saunders, Dandelion's punching power should be a lot better than before."

"You can count on us! American Blitzkrieg!" Kay shouted enthusiastically.

"Any objections or concerns?" Miho asked the group.

Katyusha raised her hand, "And if this becomes a static battle between the two riverside, then what?"

"Then… we'll improvise until we find a way."

"You really have no idea huh?"

"No I don't," Miho admitted. "Do you?"

"Eh… well, no. But we've got to have something, right?"

"We'll improvise until we find a way, sounds good?"

"Eh, sure, let's go with that," Katyusha shrugged along.

"Anything else?" Miho examined the cluster of team captains. They all seem to go along with it. They all have learned to trust Miho's instinct. After all, it was her leadership that led this mashed up group to victory not once, but twice against two very disproportionately different and powerful opponents. They had absolutely no issues going along with Miho's plan.

"Yes, I have one," Darjeeling stood out in the last minute. "What is-"

"The operation name?" Anchovy said first.

"Yes, yes, what would this operation name be?"

"Name? Hmm, how about 'Pancake'?" Miho answered almost instantly.

"P-pancake?" Kay said, almost ready to burst laughing.

"Well, since we're trying to saturate a whole area of random into our territory, I- Oh, never mind."

"No, No! Keep it!" Kay insisted, "It's perfect! Ha! Ha!"

"R-right then. This operation will be 'Operation: Pancake!'"

"This is going to look very weird in your Sensha-Dou history book…" Katyusha said offhandedly.

"Okay then. If that's everything there is, get your tanks ready and prepare to roll out!"

The group dispersed, heading their separate ways to their own individual tanks. "Operation: Pancake, huh?" Miho still couldn't believe that was the name she thought up. It was perhaps more random than anything else that happened before. Plus, above all else, it barely matched the current situation or plan. Well, the plan was set and that was how they were going to do it.

"How are you, Miporin? Ready to rock and roll?!" Saori asked from within the Panzer IV, sticking her head out of the radio operator's hatch.

Miho climbed into her commander's position. "Ready!" Miho said to the crew. She got into her radio, "All tanks, this is Anglerfish. Radio check, over."

"Jasmine, check!"

"Dandelion, check and ready to roll!"

"Sunflower, check."

"Roger that, all accounted for. Be ready for zero time." Miho finished, now they waited for the match to start.

In the distance, a flare was shot into the sky from the area of the referees, the sparks easily made out in the dark cloudy atmosphere. The match had officially started

"Alright," Miho steeled herself for the upcoming battle. "Panzer Vor!"

* * *

 **I'm back!**

 **Probably my most troublesome chapter ever. First I went on vacation, then I fell ill while on vacation so I couldn't work on it effectively. Then, I was in a place where internet was restricted so I couldn't keep everything up to date every time of the day. Yeah, it was a nightmare.**

 **By the way, do you know how hard it is to get your antagonist to have the right "mood"? I had to redo Kraus and Miho's meeting so many times because it just started as a simple "bullying" (okay, it's still bullying, but still), when I should be expressing his motives against Miho once more and elaborate. I can't have him be a villain because "he's a villain", so I gotta flesh out this guy to show his thing and a bigger scope. And no, this can't wait until before the Russians because that's when bigger stuff happens. Even now, I'm not sure if I got the message across as best as I could, but that's the extent of my writing skills I suppose...**

 **Anyways, thanks for being patient for this new upload. It's been a rough winter vacation for me and I got school starting again. Nevertheless, another chapter means one more closer to a conclusion! If you like the story and can't wait to see more, feel free to to Favorite and Follow the story to keep up with it. I look forward to seeing you all on my next upload.**


	15. Tanks in a Forest

_**Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 15: Tanks in a Forest**

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Ms. _Katyusha… The KV-2 is stuck…_ " A fearful tiny voice like a chipmunk spoke through the radio.

" _What?!_ " The rash bratty voice of Katyusha cut through the radio. " _Fix it immediately!_ "

" _W-We can't!_ "

Miho sighed as she overheard these radio transmissions while looking at the map. Where she was on the map, it was signified with large patch of green. Unfortunately, it lacked any mention of how thickly dense these trees were, plus a lack of detail on the condition of the ground. Years of the ecosystem proceeding with the natural order had accumulated downed trees, ferns, and much more on the Earth floor. Now Sunflower had to cross through all this towards their destination.

This was the one environment that even Kuromormine had trouble with, a forest terrain. They made it look very easy when others watch it do it, but only their excessive training kept them in the condition to execute it. The tree density was too great for adequate cross-country travel, the untouched mother earth were harsh against transport as well unless there was a dirt road, and the lack of vision in the forest really impeded their overall operational capacity. Now, Ōarai and the British cadets were having their flag battle here as part of the first round in the second row of brackets of the World Tournament exhibitions.

Sunflower's objective was the the river cutting through the forest like a knife. The river flowed from the southwest portion of the map towards the center, where it bended and twisted into an S-shape before it continued carving towards the northeast. The river has a history of flooding all around its area, carrying away the earth with it. When it returned to its usual state, it left a path of nothing in its flooded areas, creating large flat riversides with little cover, presenting an exposed area to be attacked in. Aside from this center point, the river varied in terrain and elevation, the center was the only part that was almost a flat land. If Ōarai could control it, they would cut the quickest and easiest path from one side of the river to the other. It would give them a tactical advantage that would restrict enemy movement, and with that the possible areas the enemy flag could be at.

However, getting to the river was tough. From the start point to their destination, there were no direct roads to the river. The company was forced to go off-road, and the tank crews are having a terrible time traveling through nature. The KV-2 was stuck in a small crater and the other tanks were rocking around harder like an oversized shaker when it traveled the uneven ground. The only exception would be the Churchill tanks. While no doubt the crew inside were having their own troubles handling their tea; the relatively outdated coiled-spring suspension system, made with the idea of the trench warfare of World War I, proved to be able to travel such unforgiving grounds. Thus, despite being some of the slowest in Sunflower, the Black Prince and Churchill were far ahead in the crowd.

" _Aisha! Mona! Stop and help KV-tan out of their problem!_ " Katyusha ordered her tank commanders. The commanders of the two new T-34-85 in Sunflower reported back with affirmatives. Miho could hear the two diesel engines and tracks in the forest shift direction towards the disabled KV-2, immobile a few meters towards hear front right.

"Rabbit, Duck. Move along with Sunflower without us, we'll watch the situation here." Miho said to her two other tanks in her headquarters group. Better they go do something rather than stick around with her. This far behind line, the Panzer IV flag tank was safe for now.

" _Roger!_ " Two voices of affirmation came in as the American and Japanese tank sped off with Sunflower towards the river. Miho looked at her map again. From where they started, the whole group had moved… less than 500 meters, with more than half that to get to their destination. Sunflower was bogged down and needed to pick up the pace.

As a decaying tree log snapped under the weight and tracks of her Panzer IV, Miho wondered if everyone else was doing well.

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Dandelion was also finding out the harshness of jungle warfare the hard way as they moved north. There were no general sense of direction gained under the trees. Kay repeatedly looked at a map and her compass, and back to her surroundings to make sure that Dandelion had the correct bearing and location. She also looked back occasionally, making sure all her tanks were accounted for and no one was lost or falling behind.

Dandelion has been boosted from its nine-vehicle unit to eleven vehicles since the last match. Chi-Ha-Tan still had five vehicles with one Ha-Go, two Chi-Has, and two Chi-Ha "Kai"s. Saunders' forces had been upgraded with the three M4A3E2 Jumbos that Kay brought with their 75 mm guns. The three assault tanks of Saunders were supplemented with their usual equipment: a regular M4 Sherman, a 76 mm M4A1, and a Firefly. Due to their mobile usage in this match, Leopon had been moved to Sunflower to boost their firepower, otherwise Dandelion would have twelve tanks.

The company had to travel in a single line on the lone dirt path leading them to their destination. Kay was leading the group in a M4A3E2, with the two other Jumbos behind, then Naomi's Firefly, Alisa's 76 mm M4A1, the M4 Sherman, then the Chi-Ha-Tan team in the rear guard. The dirt path was thin and unfavorable for motor travel, forcing the tank commanders to peer above to watch the path as their driver carefully throttles the tank along, with the risk of toppling over the sides into a steep valley of trees or ram into a dirt mound.

"God damn forests!" Alisa screamed for the third time as Kay heard a heavy shake of a tree when the full weight of the Sherman's and its horsepower smacks into it. The forest had not been kind to the tank and its crew. It beated the tanks, especially those with long extending cannon barrels like the 76 mm and 17-pounder by snagging them in the foliage. The commanders must react quickly before the strength of the trees and bushes prove to be too much for the turret ring. Not only that, the dirt road was uneven and rocked each tank as they roll over the different bumps and pits, leading to great physical discomfort of the crew. Reports are coming in of commanders hitting their heads on the cupola, so Kay wore her helmet, despite it muffling her flowing hair.

" _All units, status report,_ " Miho's voice came through the radio.

Kay picked it up, "Dandelion here. It's rather cramped here, Miho. We haven't even made it to the north river yet."

She then listened to all the reports coming in. " _This is Sunflower. Most of our tanks are progressing towards the center point. However, Pravda has fallen behind. The KV-2 bogged down."_

" _Jasmine here! So far A-okay! We're almost at the southern position!"_

Kay only looked at the map with a dismal face. "Gosh darn it, coordination is going to be a pain if we don't get our act together in this environment."

A thunder rolled in the sky as Kay looked up at the grey clouds that had gathered. "Miho, I hope you know what you're doing…"

* * *

 **South Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Jasmine team was climbing up the southern hills. At their position, they were much taller than a good portion of the forest already. It helps that a majority of their vehicles were rather reliable and light, their travel uphill on the dirt roads was with little difficulty.

Anzu looked over the Hetzer's hatch, observing the path. With the height and narrow dirt road, there was a real possibility of falling off towards the ground below. All the tank commanders in Jasmine were taking extra care that an awful fate does not befell on to them.

Still, they had a great height advantage with a good view across most of the forest. Though a large portion can be easily obscured under the dense trees, the key of the map, the river, was in full view to them. The entire southern and center portion could be put under their guns once they ranged the shots. This makes their position a strong overwatch area to provide cover fire for Sunflower and prevent any flankers on the southern part of the map.

The only issue is if a unit crossed the river before Jasmine even got there, but given that Jasmine was moving faster than any of the other two Ōarai companies, it was safe to assume they were around the same speed as the British, if not faster.

As Jasmine took another turn around the hill they are climbing, light flashed in the skies and the thunderous sound cracked through the air. Anzu takes another bite out of her sweet potato chips while looking at the darkened sky. It was heavy, with little sunlight crossing through the clouds onto the land. The light level was still moderate enough for vision, but the weather was worrisome. As the Char B1 and KV-1 took lead and clacked upwards on the hill, the atmosphere started to look more and more miserable.

" _I have a bad feeling about this…_ " Anchovy said through the radio from her P40, which were in the Jasmine column behind the two heavy tanks.

" _No kidding, duce_ ," Pepperoni piped up, her voice rather diminutive compared to her usual chipper self. She was also looking up at the sky with some worry.

"Take it easy, girls," Anzu said, in a relaxed tone compared to the two Anzio girls. "Once we get up, we dig in and hold our positions. There are only limited roads upwards, so I want the tanks to cover our flanks, tank destroyers get into positions to provide cover fire." She gave out their general plan. Anzu isn't a Sensha-Dou master like the Nishizumi or the other school captains, but she's learned a great deal from the last year of Sensha-Dou.

Jasmine crossed another turn and got a view of the river once more. "Alright, this looks like a good place," Anzu said to the group. There were enough space to maneuver for the tank destroyers and their guns could depress low enough to reach towards the S-point.

As the Hetzer looked at this, the StuG III of Hippo team came up and analyzed the location. " _A valley of tears…,"_ Caesar's voice said, _"This place is perfect._ " They took the position up with much glee. Carpaccio's Semovente followed suit. As the three self-propelled guns stationed themselves, the tanks moved ahead to the other side of the hill to block the roads, or take up another position.

"Pepperoni, Mika, we're going to need you two to maintain a scout reconnaissance to make sure no one tries to get a pounce on us!"

" _Roger that,_ " Mika replied back.

" _Affirmative! Going long!_ " Pepperoni shouted through. The two smaller light tanks moved out, bypassing the slower medium and heavy tanks.

Anzu took out a binocular and analyzed the situation from above. The Hetzer has a perfect view towards the S-point, with the British blatantly towards their left and her team on the right. The far north was debatable, but it was unlikely that her company's guns were able to hit that far anyways. Confident, she got onto the radio. "Miho, this is Jasmine. We're ready and standing by for action!"

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"That's great! Hold position and engage anyone trying to cross the river!" Miho replied to Anzu's transmission. "We're almost through the thickest of the forest, so you should see Sunflower on the right end soon enough!"

" _Roger that! We'll try not to mess with you girls!_ "

Miho hangs up the radio as she watched the two T-34-85 continue to struggle with the KV-2. Everyone else had moved on ahead, but she and these two tanks were tending to a logistical burden. The KV-2, while surely intimidating with its 152 mm howitzer, was quite an impractical weapon in this environment. The dense forest restricted the awesome power of the 152 mm shells, while also reducing the range the rounds can be lobbed at, as you can't hit a target you can't see. Yet, Katyusha's adoration of the tall KV-2 has kept them held up trying to get the metal beast out of its predicament.

Miho came along with her Panzer IV. If there's anything that can get a heavy tank out of a stuck position is more horsepower. "Is there anything I can help with?" Miho said out of her cupola.

"Yeah!" One of the crew member of the T-34-85s said over the engine noises present. "Hook up in a line with our tanks. We'll tow it out of its-"

She barely finished before explosions were sounding in the distance, following with crashes and splintering as trees were hit and the ground was torn up.

"We've got engagement!" Saori inside the Panzer IV shouted as she relayed her radio transmissions to Miho. "Sunflower's got the first shot off on a Comet, they said! Now all hell's broken loose!"

"Tell them all to hold fast and get ready for a frontal engagement!"

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"News up girls! Sunflower's got contact with the enemy force!" Kay said into her intercom and radio.

" _Copy that!_ " The replies came in acknowledging the change in situation. There were no certainty on what sort of enemy concentrations were at the S-point. However, as the flanking force, Dandelion still got a while to go before they could move on to exploitation.

The trees cleared up ahead and the river was in their sight, with the road cutting through large dirt mounds forming a barrier against off-road travel towards the river. The riverside's rock and dirt path looked firm enough for the Jumbos to travel over, but the water depth was something else.

"All tanks halt," Kay said as the tank column came to a stop, still in the covers of the forest. Kay climbed out of the cupola, "Loader, with me."

The small oval hatch by the main cupola opened as the loader of her Jumbo came along with her. They brought along their firearms as well, a Thompson for Kay while the loader had a M1A1 carbine with her. Not that they needed it, but it was something that gave them a sense of security. The two girls approached the river, looking at the running water. It was clear and they could see the bottom.

"Looks good, don't you think?" Kay asked her loader, Maddy, a second-year student.

"Looks safe to cross, captain. Even for Chi-Ha-Tan."

"Alright, let's go back," Kay said before they turned back towards the column. Kay was also methodically looking around the area for any possible ambushes, people watching for them to cross. If there were any, they've concealed themselves in the forest. Distance fighting was going to be a pain if that was the case. Nothing much could be seen as she climbed back onto her Jumbo. "Alright girls, let's push forwards," Kay said in her intercom. "All tanks move forwards. Space out, 10 meters between."

" _Roger that!_ "

Kay's M4A3E2 Jumbo moved forwards, the suspension aching under the heavier weight of the tank. The rocks on the riverside crunched under the rubber-padded tracks and the full weight of the assault tanks. Moving forwards nervously, Kay looked around once more for possible enemies. The Jumbo did a plunge into the river, before leveling around the suspension level, about a three feet depth. The acceleration stalled as the viscosity of the water impeded the tank's overall speed.

That's when a sound like lightning and thunder mixed together screamed in the air.

A round smashed into the river just behind Kay's Jumbo, the velocity force caused the round to ram into the water, impact the surface underneath, and ricochet off into a tree down the river, blasting the timber into shrapnel.

"Contact!" Kay screamed out into the radio, but the whole column was already in alert. Her team scrambled about in the chaos, the four tanks behind Kay, exposed in the open river side, tried to make sense on where the rounds were coming from. Another round came in, skimming the top of Kay's Jumbo on the engine deck. Kay looked back and saw the large cleave into the Jumbo's roof armor. _Looks like a 17-pounder…_ She thought to herself, but a different message came out of her mouth "Driver, advance!" The Jumbo picked up speed as it finish crossing the river.

"Enemies are to the west! Distance unknown!" She said before switching over to the headquarters frequency. "Miho, we've got contact on our predestined river crossing. No casualties yet! We're trying to find out where they are!"

" _Roger that, Kay! Try to maneuver against them! Out!"_ Miho ordered.

Her Jumbo reached the other side of the river, cresting the shore onto land and continued forward into the cover of foliage. Kay looked back and saw her company still trying to respond. A shot came in onto the Jumbo tank that was now in the column lead. The round impacted the left side hull. Though the Jumbo side hull is strengthened to a good 3 inch of armor, that did little against a flat-on high-velocity round. The Jumbo sputtered and a white flag popped out. The impact showed the rest of the column where the fire was coming from, and the remaining exposed three tanks on the riverside shifted their frontal hull armor towards their left, the west direction.

 _Shit, with this river in between us, it's going to be hard getting tanks across without unacceptable casualties…_ Kay thought to herself. Dandelion was stuck in a predicament that stalled their movement, and that cannot be allowed in this match. _Time for some drastic measures…_ "Alright, listen up, try to keep the attention of whoever's shooting us…" a task not too hard as another shell soon came about and hit the gravel on the river, sending splinters of rock fragments into the air. "...and I'll try to out maneuver them from here."

" _Alone?!_ " Alisa screamed into the radio as she realized the overall situation.

"It's too dangerous to cross without getting taken out by that AT gun! I'll try to get them from a blind spot! That's an order, out!" Kay finished by hanging up the radio and talked into her intercom. "Driver, advance!"

The Jumbo continued up a dirt road as she heard the Shermans and Jumbos behind her open fire in the distance. Another shot whizzed in the air as it hit metal, a loud and stunning _CLANG_ sounded as the round either deflected or smacked right into the armor without any effect. Whatever it was, Kay couldn't tell from her position and she had other priorities in mind. Her Jumbo rumbled on…

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Another shot clanged off the Black Prince's turret. Darjeeling listened to the sounds as the rounds came in, causing the crew to flinch but she analyzed the way the shells' arrival speed and the impact it made on the steel turret. There were two types of shells coming in, 75 mm and the 17-pounder. Assam and Orange Pekoe are busy loading and firing the Black Prince's 17-pounder as they aimed across the distance for muzzle flashes. Only one or two sporadically appear, leaving little hints for Assam to trace on before that spot's flashes disappear and another appears elsewhere.

Darjeeling sipped her tea, green tea, as she looked out her cupola periscopes. She wasn't sure on what Montgomery was planning. Was this just a diversionary force like Sunflower and the real deal was somewhere on the north or south? Or was he throwing everything at them for the decimation of Ōarai's forces? It was too early to decide what the enemy was planning, but so far on the optimistic side, everything was going according to plan.

Rukuriri's Churchill fires off its 75 mm as it soared across in a trajectory across the river. The two sides were trading shots, as the large open area of the river was inviting concentrated fire. With Jasmine stationed, if calculated correctly, Ōarai has control over the crossings. If an enemy Churchill was to attempt a traveling, it would be impacted by 75 mm shots to the side, wrecking the suspension even if not penetrating the still thick side armor.

A rumble passed through Darjeeling's rear. The energetic volleyball team were taking pot shots with their 57 mm cannon on their Type 89 as they sped through the forest in laps. While it is doubtful they would have any effect on any target down range, being shot at is still considered a significant emotional event. The second-year Ōarai students in the M3 Lee were also supplementing the firepower with their twin armament. The two didn't have anything against Leopon team's Tiger (P) though, the heavy tank with its 88 mm cannon was a nice addition to Sunflower since the last match.

"We're not going to make any breakthroughs here at this rate," Orange Pekoe nonchalantly comments as she picks up a 17-pounder shell for the fired gun. Pekoe noted that she had become accustomed to the heavy round now, it no longer felt as different as loading a 75 mm round back in the old Churchill.

"That's why we leave it to the others to attack them from their flanks." Darjeeling says. "We just have to keep them on their side of the river while they do so."

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Naomi tried to line-up her Firefly's sights on the distance, taking cover behind a Jumbo as it took another hit for her tank. She was behind the Jumbos when they rolled out and was among the exposed when the anti-tank fire started coming in. The Jumbos had angled themselves toward the direction of fire. Naomi's Firefly, unable to withstand that much punishment, used their bodies as shields while extending as little of her turret out as possible towards the enemy. The muzzle flashes were well hidden deep in the forest trees, and the moist environment has prevented dusts clouds from forming with each blast that would've given away their location.

"Damn! I can't get a bead!" She grunts out loudly while keeping her eyes through the gun's sight. As if to spite her, another shot came flying towards the Jumbo and hit the gun mantlet, ricocheting off and hitting Naomi's Firefly turret's roof before skimming away into the distance. Despite the vibration, she kept her eyes through the sight and still saw nothing.

" _W-What are you all doing?!_ " Alisa suddenly was shouting in a louder-than-usual manner on her radio. She was right behind Naomi in the column before the engagement, with a M4 Sherman behindthe two. There was a distinctive sound of diesel engines in her radio background.

"What's going on?" Naomi asked as her cupola observer hands her the radio receiver.

" _Chi- Chi-Ha-Tan is...!"_

"Charge!" Naomi could hear their battle-cry through the radio, her headset, and the sound of battle happening outside.

"What the hell?" Naomi heard her cupola observer say.

"What's going on out there?!"

"It's Chi-Ha-Tan! They're charging pass us!"

Old habits die hard and the five Chi-Ha-Tan tanks rushed forward past the stuck Saunder tanks. They had bypassed the constrained tanks by traveling off-road, a tactic unable to be done by the Shermans because of various motor performances. However, Chi-Ha-Tan tanks were all a lot lighter, giving them the flotation to travel over the bad terrain pass the blocked path.

Nishi's Chi-Ha was the first to crest the dirt mounds on the sides of the dirt road, with the rest of her small team following her. Saunders were stunned by this reckless display as they traveled past them on gravel riverside towards the river. It seemed even the enemy were astonished as their consistent fire rate had dropped sharply since Chi-Ha-Tan appeared.

The five tanks crashed into the river with a loud _SPLASH_! Their momentum dropped as the water resistance did its deed. That's when the enemy decided to fire again as a shot streaks through the air and impacted the water.

"Covering fire!" Naomi yelled out, firing her Firefly's 17-pounder at the general direction of the enemy, which was answered by two more. _So there were more than one gun?_ Naomi noted as the rate of fire seemed too high for a single gun to be firing. The two Jumbos with her fired their 75 mm shells. In the distance, Naomi noted they fired high-explosive shells as orange flashes appeared and dirt flew into the air. Not effective in penetrating enemy armor, but it would freak out anyone on the other end.

The five Chi-Ha-Tan tanks nearly crossed in one piece, the incoming fire took out a Chi-Ha Kai in the middle, but the rest had maximized the surprise and crossed safely, their tracks rattling on the gravel as they travel down the road Kay went through.

"T _hose_ _lucky bastards!"_ Alisa chastised. " _Just what are those idiots thinking?!_ "

"They're not, obviously," Naomi commented, "but at least Kay will have company."

* * *

 **South Side of S-p** **oint - Quebec, Canada**

Anzu chomped away at another dried sweet potato in a reclined position as the three self-propelled guns wait for an opening. From the distance, their optics can make out the firefight happening at S-point between the two sides of the river clearing. However, they couldn't get a bead on any of the British tanks on the west side, which frustrates Momo to no end.

"We're not firing! Why aren't we firing?!"

"Well, Momo, it's hard to shoot something we can't see…" Yuzu replied.

"I can see their muzzle flashes! Just shoot that!"

"It's alright girls, we just have to make sure no British units are crossing through the south side. If they don't have to worry about this flank, it's one less trouble for everyone else." Anzu says while chewing a chip with half of its end sticking out of her mouth. She picked up her radio. "Recon, any news?"

* * *

"Pepperoni here!" Pepperoni says as her tankette speeds through the forest. Finally, her tankette is being put to good use, traveling across small paths that would make most tankers cry. Each bump, hard turn, and jump was taken as an invitation of Pepperoni. It reminded her of the time she, Carpaccio, and Duce went on a roller coaster in one of the amusement parks in Japan. Of course, she was fine with it, but Duce ended up throwing up in the end… "Nothing to report here! Everything normal!"

" _Good, make sure no one tries crossing the river on the farthest borders of the map."_

"Roger that!" Pepperoni screamed joyously as her L3/33 makes a jump into the air, a good 3 feet before landing with a crunch on the ground. "Yahoo!"

Pepperoni got a good look around once the tankette slowed down. "Huh?" That's when she noticed that she wasn't in the forest anymore. She looked around the open clearing, the ground was all gravel and with disturbed dirt all around. A loud flowing of water sounded to her left, splashing with unspeakable force as nature drives it through the dirt.

"Oh," Pepperoni comments on her situation on finding herself by the edge of the river she was suppose to observe. As she realized it, the sky rolled with thunder once more.

* * *

"What's that idiot doing there?" Mikko said from the driver position of the BT-42. The crew have set up position where they could see a majority of the south-west side of the river.

"Should we help them?" Aki said softly, but her voice echoed inside the rumbling BT-42 turret, right next to Mika's kantele as she played a melody to pass the time.

"Who's the bigger fool, the fool or the one that follow him?" Mika randomly says to the crew.

"Now isn't really the time to be quoting movies…" Aki sighed as she tried to make sense of her commander's thought process. Then again, everyone in Continuation always thought Mika was a loose screw. She just happened to be a screw that's keeping the whole team together.

The three observed the tankette commander and driver trying to make sense of their situation. The one with pigtails got out and was wandering by the riverside. Mikko curiously wondered how that commander would act if enemy vehicles were to suddenly appear on the other end, the thought of it amused her. The commander peered over the river like a cliff, looking down at the bottom, right before walking farther along the riverside. After making quite a distance from the tankette, she was running back and made a successfully vaulted back into the open top hatch of her tankette.

" _Oi! This is Recon!"_ The radio came alive with the Anzio girl's voice.

" _What is it?"_ Ōarai's student president replied to the disturbance.

" _I'm at the river at the south-west side! This place is a no-go!"_ That comment stirred up the Continuation members as they suddenly take attention to the transmissions.

" _What do you mean?"_

" _The river's too deep for any tank to cross through!_ "

Aki looked at her commander who had stopped playing her kantele to listen in. "Looks like we've been looking at a dead-end."

"The best plan never survives five minutes into combat…" Mika said, right before picking up her kantele again and began plucking the strings. "Let's look at the other parts of the river our little friend hasn't."

Mikko grinned a smile as she grabbed the BT's drive sticks. Revving up the engine, they prepared for another trip through the forest.

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Cap'n Kay!" A cry shouted from behind Kay before she heard the engines. She was shocked to see four Japanese tanks right behind her.

"Nishi? Why are you here?!" Kay shouted across the tanks towards Nishi

"Well, we can't just leave our leader to fend for herself!"

"How'd you get pass the column and the fire?!"

"We just charged through!"

"Of course you did! How many did you lose?!"

"Just one!"

 _Oh, sure,"just one"_. Kay could never grasp around the Chi-Ha-Tan's style of Sensha-Dou.

"We'll assist you in attacking the anti-tank location!"

"Fine by me!" Kay rolled along with it. "Just don't get us all killed!"

"Roger!" Nishi said before she started talking into her own radio. Kay then watched the Japanese tanks then go off-road to her M4A3E2's left and into the jungle, their tank tracks and hull clattering along the uneven ground.

"Not sure if ballsy… or just really unfamiliar with jungle warfare…" Kay murmured to herself as she watched them disappear out of sight into the wilderness. "Driver, continue forward."

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"So there's no possible crossings at the south?" Miho answered to her radio.

" _Yep. Recon said the river down there is too deep. No tank's going to be crossing that side of the map,_ " Anzu relayed Pepperoni's findings.

Miho looked at her map closely. The river down there did look a bit bigger around that area… "Very well. Divert your attention closer to the center, but keep a few eyes down there for any stragglers trying to find a shallow end!"

" _Will do! Out!_ "

Miho put down the radio as she turned her attention to the scenario behind her. "Are you girls ready?"

"Yep!" Yukari shouted from outside the Panzer IV near the downed KV-2. The Panzer IV and the two T-34-85 were hooked up to the KV-2, still stuck in a small dirt crater. If the math was correct, the three vehicles running together should give the tow cable a force of almost 80 horsepower per ton, hopefully enough to get the heavy tank out of its predicament.

A round whizzed loudly overhead, part of the fighting at S-point. It rustled the tree leaves as it passed the girls, sending bristles of needle-leaves down onto the Panzer IV as Miho signaled to the other Pravda commanders in their T-34-85 cupola. They both gave an "OK" sign with their hands.

"Mako, drive forwards please!" Miho said through the intercom.

"Right," Mako throttled the Panzer IV forwards, with it she could feel the other T-34's moving behind her as well through the vibration on the attached tow cables.

Then the Panzer IV came to a halt as all the forces involved cancelled out the Panzer IV's forward movement. "Mako, make sure the transmission isn't too strained."

"Right."

A few seconds later, the Panzer IV seemed to be inching forwards. Miho looked back, the tanks were moving as their towed result followed right behind. The KV-2 has gotten enough power and climbed out of its stuck position. To ensure it didn't just fall back in, the tanks continued pulling the KV-2 out a good distance before they came to a stop.

"Alright, that went well!" Miho said happily, a job well done. Yukari ran up towards Miho from the KV-2.

"It's out! They'll just disconnect the cable and then we're all good to go!"

"Thanks for helping with the operation, Yukari!"

"Aw, Nishizumi-dono… It's no biggie," Yukari said, blushing as she climbed over the Panzer IV's turret schürzen armor into the side hatch back to her loader seat.

"Okay…" Miho got the radio receiver. "Sunflower, this is HQ. KV-2 is cleared. We're moving up now."

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Nishi juggled about in her Type 97 Chi-Ha as the tank jostled over trees, rocks, and the different bumps of the forest floor. She made a silent prayer of gratitude to the designer who thought of adding the asbestos pads all over the hull of the tank, it cushioned her impacts when she gets rocked into the tank.

Nishi thought curiously on how jungle warfare differed from many other operations her school had done in the past. How the others seem very warily on the idea of it while she was exploiting it in ways that surprised even Saunders. It did not dawn on her that the small Chi-Ha-Tan tanks were the only reason she could move as she is now.

As she navigated through the dense wood with her platoon, she heard a piercing crack in the air as a sound wave blasted from a direction.

"Towards our 10 o'clock, let us make haste!" Nishi said into her radio as the platoon shifted direction.

Still on the dirt road, Kay heard their tanks rev up and change direction. She looked at her map for any possible destination. A cliff, on one side of a river bend, it overlooked most of the northern end of the river, a possible place for enemy ambushers to be present.

" _Kay, this is Naomi, how's thing looking up?"_

Kay took the radio, "I've met up with our Chi-Ha-Tan friends here. I think we've got a bead on the enemy attack position. Be prepared to cross once we get their attention."

" _Roger that!_ "

Kay looked back at the map. "Okay, driver, turn left here. Try to stay on stable ground."

"Roger that!" The M4A3E2 lurched over the dirt road into a clearing in the woods. Kay could feel the undisturbed dirt squelch and smuch as the assault tank's tracks run over it. The tank rocked back and forth as it moved around the different bends and hill of the forest.

Another shot came out from the woods. The anti-tank position was now just a distance away.

* * *

Nishi heard the sound blast even closer as her four tanks crested a hill. They got onto the top just in time to see a stunning muzzle blast being flashed out from the ground. The vehicle it came from seemed to be hugging the ground, like a Japanese beetle. The gunner of her Chi-Ha didn't hesitate to let out a shot from the 57 mm, the shot not hitting anywhere near the muzzle flash area.

Like a disturbed ant hill, the whole ground was suddenly in motion, shouting broke the tranquility of nature. Nishi could see engine exhaust build up as the enemy vehicle power up and they move. She then saw their guns, long rods with a ball muzzle brake on the end. The placement of the gun seemed merged onto the hull shape, but now they started to elevate as the vehicles turned towards her location.

"Driver, forward!" Nishi yelled almost impulsively upon seeing this. Time seemed to slow since her appearance on the hill to the firing to the enemy's reaction. An encounter between four tanks against an unknown amount hidden away. As her Chi-Ha moved forward, the others just got the message and tried to follow as well. A fellow Chi-Ha reacting too late took a shell to the hull, almost flipping it off the hill from the force.

The three Chi-Ha-Tan tanks charged in. Nishi moved towards the vehicle that she saw first, closest to the hill. The gunner drastically hand-cranked the turret traverse as Nishi loaded another 57 round into the gun. "Up!" Nishi yelled after sending in a 57 mm with her arm.

"Firing!" The gunner yelled out before Nishi got back up the cupola. In a flash instance she saw the metal hulk of the enemy hidden in the brush before the Chi-Ha's gun blasted it. The 57 mm, despite its low velocity, smashes with authority on the enemy's side.

That was when she heard cries. A group of people jostled inside the hit vehicle. An open-cabin vehicle, with the crew exposed to the elements and harm. The vibration had shocked and rocked them inside their gun carriage. A small white flag soon appeared on the vehicle, a show of defeat.

Fukuda, in her Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, sped past her commander's altercation, right before ramming into what she thought at first was the ground. Readjusting her glasses, she found herself face-to-face with a person peering outside their vehicle's superstructure. A few shouting and commands were thrown about in the confusion. She heard someone yelling "Turn left!" and the vehicle she crashed upon started forcing the Ha-Go out of its radius.

Fukuda panicked as she fell back down into her one-man turret. She single-handedly operated the 37 mm gun, traversing the turret left as fast as possible. Her arms started to burn from rotating the lever, but she got her eyes into the sight. A short glimpse was all she got before she pressed the trigger, letting loose a round into the vehicle. A crash, and a fizzle, before a spring-loaded hatch cracked open with a white flag. From inside her Ha-Go while loading another 37 mm round, she could hear colorful curses from the enemy vehicle.

Fukuda got back out on her cupola to see the situation. The vehicle was a strange one, even if it was restricted in Sensha-Dou. It reminded her of Kuromormine's Elefant tank destroyer, with the crew location on the rear of the vehicle. The gun extended over the tank destroyer's body, fixed to an angle without a turret. Though, the crew is more exposed with the open roof, allowing for some more expressive communication with anyone outside their vehicle.

As she got a look on one of the crew members, she wanted to say something. "Uh, sorry…?" in a volume that no one but her would hear.

The man looked with some surprise too as he raised something quickly. A crack and whistling noise followed, suddenly that noise became rapid, tearing through the current confrontation for Fukuda. She heard something, things, impact her open cupola hatch with a _TWANG,_ prompting her to dive straight back down into the turret.

"Ack, what was that?!" Fukuda tried asking, only to be interrupted by a rapid _RA-TA_ _-TA-TA_ from inside her tank, followed by sounds of brass casings.

"Fukuda, are you okay?!" Her driver said towards her.

"Yeah! I'm fine, what happened?!"

"One of the Englishmen tried shooting you! We shot him down!" The driver said as she adjusted the gear and engine, sending the Ha-Go in reverse. Fukuda then noticed that her Ha-Go was still being peppered by small clanging noises, to which Fukuda recognized as bullets ricocheting off the armor.

Fukuda peered through the tiny cupola periscopes as bullets flied around her. The co-driver was busy reloading her spent Type 97 machine gun. Instead of worrying about the vehicle in front of her with its rowdy crew, she looked around the area. The Chi-Ha Kai had taken out another one of those vehicle, leading to three downed enemy units.

* * *

The M4A3E2 slugged over the hill and Kay saw the spectacle before her.

"Well, well, Chi-Ha-Tan's got some more kills on their score board…" Kay said of the scene in front of her. Aside from a M3 Stuart and a few M26 Pershings to their name, Chi-Ha-Tan can now proudly add a few Archer tank destroyers to their name as well. Suddenly, she found a few bullets hitting her tank coming from below the hill. From an Archer with a flag up, but with a persistent crew.

"Was there a rule saying that the crew of downed tanks were 'out' too?" Kay asked her crew first, wondering if she should declare this a rule-breaking incident.

"I don't think so…" Her crew commented along that line.

Kay looked in front of her as some more bullets pumped out of fruitless effort hit her turret. "Gunner, switch to coaxial."

"Roger," her gunner's voice had no sense of surprise as she pressed down on the alternate firing button by her feet, the M1919 machine gun by the loader started spraying out brass casing with each fired round _Thud-Thud-Thud_.

Kay reached for her radio. "Naomi, Alisa, in case you didn't hear the firing, it just happened. You'd better cross that river now!"

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

" _KV-tan's here!_ " Katyusha's cry of glee seemed to be a rallying call to the present Pravda members as she cheered "Oorah!"

As the fighting continued in front, Miho was at a distance from the fighting. The Panzer IV hid behind a boulder large enough to cover it from enemy shells while she got out of the tank, a radio in hand, and viewed the battle away from the cover of her tank.

"Miho, this is dangerous…" Yukari said, accompanying Miho outside.

"After all those Sensha-Dou and Tankery matches, now I'm in danger?" Miho replied, but she almost laughed. "It's okay, Yukari. It's just like when I stick out from the cupola. There's always danger of us being hit."

"Well, there's a difference being out here… and being in the Panzer."

"I'll be fine, Yukari." Miho went back to looking through her binocular. She could see the far end of the river and see some bits of Montgomery's team fighting it out with Sunflower.

It looked liked how it was in their match against Merlion. The composition of the group in front of them had a mixture of Comets and Churchill tanks. She had no idea why Montgomery had grouped cruiser and infantry tanks together, it nullified the speed advantage of the Comet and the overall armor quality of the Churchill. That saying, it's not like the Comet was a bad universal tank, maybe to give the group some flexibility?

The Churchills were able to survive Sunflower's firepower by their impressive frontal armor, even the Tiger's 88 couldn't penetrate it. The IS-2 can if it can hit it, but so far no luck. The Comets lasted this long as well by using their mobility. With all the firing and the shrubbery in front, tracking the moving, appearing, disappearing tanks made for hard targets to destroy. Their accuracy suffered from their constant repositioning, but as long as they had ammo and weren't hit, they were still in the match.

"Hey look, Miho! Looks like the KV's about to do its thing!" Yukari pointed towards the KV-2 leaving its concealment of trees.

Miho turned a bit of her curiosity towards the KV-2. She's been on the firing lane of that monstrous howitzer a few times, but she never knew what it was like watching it from an attacker's point of view.

The KV-2, a 50-ton heavy tank with a 152 mm howitzer on its turret. The tank was so heavily armored that during the German's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, they had no dedicated anti-tank equipment able to take down the KV-2. The KV-2, with a gun and turret so heavy that it could not traverse it on an uneven ground, spelled destruction to any unfortunate tank or bunker caught under its howitzer.

The KV-2's barrel stared its nose down across the creek. It had missed opportunities to do any sort of damage, but it hungered for blood and oil. It's been through three matches just from the last year since the nationals. It had failed to damage any of Ōarai's tank, twice in fact, and it failed to impact University Strength Team as well. This time, it was to be released.

The small stubble of a cannon barrel raised slightly as Yukari found it within her survival instinct to cover her ears. An invisible countdown meter sounded, a countdown to armageddon, the bell of victory. _5...4...3...2...1…_

The KV-2 reversed back into its cover. " _Misfire!_ " a report came through the radio by Miho and Yukari.

Miho simply sighed as she went back to her binoculars, but Yukari suddenly felt an itch that just _really_ needed to be scratched.

* * *

 **South-west Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

A group of Sherman III went through the muddy path towards their location. Eight Shermans in all were line up one-by-one, following each other as they navigate through the forest. The lack of a dedicated cupola on these early Sherman models restricted the commander's vision when they were buttoned-up, so Harvey now looked over the commander's split-hatch as he directed the driver to correct turns and alignment to make sure his tank did not topple over or anything.

In terms of his reassignment, the Sherman III was a big improvement over his old Cromwell. Sure, it wasn't as fast as a Cromwell, but the ergonomics were much, much easier to work around. His crew has been singing nothing but praises for it, and so far that's been a universal trait for any Cromwell crews switching to any other better tanks available. Unless it was the Valiant, no one sang any praises around that blasted piece of junk.

The Sherman III was a bit of a logistical oddball in terms of the cadet's equipment. The other tanks were all petrol-powered, but the Sherman III was diesel-powered, and had two engines in the back. A downside from a decision almost seven decades ago with the U.S. Lend-Lease program. The British military had acquired a whole bunch of M4 tanks, but noticeable oddities like the M4A2 and the M4A4 made up their numbers as well. The M4A2, or as they call it the "Sherman III", helped make up a good portion of Britain's armored forces in Europe and at home, especially in specialized designs like mine rollers.

Still, its prevalence at the British isles affected its commonality today when Tankery production started. Whoever was running the production lines did not know the difference between all the Sherman variants. They simply picked up a Sherman available, the M4A2, and copied and produced it. A few years of production of a strange diesel model that nobody really wanted led to a large surplus market for the M4A2. The British cadets, just getting into the whole Tankery business in the 70s, bought up the cheap M4A2 models up for sale and so it ended up that the 3rd RTR cadets still had quite a large amount to this day. Harvey's certain that if he was to lookup the serial number of the tank he's in now, it would say it was made during the heights of the Cold War.

If that's the case though, its age was not showing. The Sherman III was being handled by the driver like a beauty. Minimal jerking and wear on the transmission and tracks, some stuff that they had to worry about in the Cromwell tank.

The train of thought was ruined when he came to a clearing different from the green and brown of the forest. In front was grey and blue, they reached the river.

"All tanks, halt." Harvey said through his radio as his driver slowly braked the Sherman into a stop. With the Sherman stopping, his loader decided to open up an insulated bottle.

"Is that…?"

"For bloody sakes, Ben, can't you get off my case?"

"I'm telling you, you've got a drinking problem!"

"I can drink whatever the damn hell I want!"

"Shut up, both of you!" Harvey butted in between his two turret mates' long feud. "I've got enough to deal with here…" He muttered to himself as he looked at the edge.

It was a clearing in the woods straight towards the river, a single path surrounded by unsurmountable hills with trees. One way into the riverside, one way out. A perfect chokepoint if they were being watched.

"Tell you what; Mac, enjoy your drink. Ben, with me. Let's go." Harvey said as he climbed out of the Sherman's turret while grabbing his personal firearm, a STEN Mk. III submachine gun, that along with his other equipment as a group commander. Ben, the gunner, also had a STEN as he climbed out. Harvey calmly walked out onto the riverside, the gravel crunching under his boots. The river flowed with tranquil power, there was a statement of mother nature's effect on the earth that just couldn't be grasped by the human tongue. While Ben was busy analyzing the scenario around them, Harvey spent his attention on the week.

"Are you done sight seeing?" Ben asked up close to Harvey, somewhat paranoid of any enemy lying in wait.

"The river's pretty deep."

"I can see that. The bottom looks like a good, what? 15 meters?"

"Yep, I'd say." Harvey acknowledged Ben's deduction. Looked about right.

"A bit flowing too, think the engine'll be able to handle it?"

Harvey took in a breath, a sniff of fresh air away from the diesel exhaust he's been dealing with the last 20 minutes. "One way to find out."

Harvey turned around on his way back while Ben made a small jog for it. The grinding of rocks turned to squelch of moist dirt as Harvey approached his Sherman III. He climbed up onto the turret. "Alright boys, mount canvas!"

Engines die and commotions arise as all the members of the Sherman III group got out of their tanks for the preparations to ford the river.

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Sunflower was grouping up. The rest had crossed the river and were meeting up with Kay up the road.

The elimination of the four Archer units went through with little trouble once they were discovered. Chi-Ha-Tan got three of them while Kay got the last one hanging back taking potshots at them. The crew were ferocious as well, trying to gun down the exposed girls on the turret. A few rounds of machine gun from the tanks soon pacified them.

Nishi's Type 97 Chi-Ha rolled up against Kay's.

"Nice work, Nishi," Kay said to the ditz.

Nishi did a small salute, "Always a pleasure!"

She heard the rumbles of gasoline engines coming up the dirt road she came through. "That must be them. Let's go, Nishi!"

"Right!"

The four tanks still operational from the encounter were now returning to the road. Kay will take the lead once more and they'll continue into the forest to encircle the center point, where Sunflower was dealing with the most resistance.

Now that she thought of the whole picture, Kay figured she should update Miho about her situation. "Hey, Miho, this is Dandelion."

A few seconds passed, " _Dandelion, this is HQ. What's up?"_

"We engaged and eliminated the enemy targeting us at the river. We'll be continuing west now!"

" _Excellent, keep it up!_ "

Kay heard Miho's voice just as soon as she reached the clearing she used to go off-road. Upon seeing it, she could see Naomi's Sherman Firefly coming up the road from the right, where the river was. As she did, she soon saw something glint to her left, and look left.

...wait…

Another Firefly?

Kay found herself reaching the open road, a Firefly on the right, a Firefly on the left. All their guns pointed towards the center that small, tiny intersection.

* * *

 **West Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Montgomery watched on top of the hill in concealment as the encounter between the two sides of the river continue. The fighting between the two sides reminded him of some of the accounts he read of the fighting at the Siegfried Line in World War II. Tanks battering fortifications with little results. It looked like that from here, his Churchills and Comets were shooting at the tanks on the other side, but their shells seem to land on empty dust, while the enemy tanks also send their own with the same results.

" _King, this is Duck 1. Proceeding with the crossings."_

"Affirmative Duck 1. Keep up the pace. Report back once the crossing is finished. Out." Montgomery spoke through the radio. "Queen, Mercury, this is King. Status report, over."

" _Mercury 1 here, we-"_ The transmission was interrupted with a large explosion in the background. " _We're proceeding with the operation. Queen's in contact with their American forces. A third of Queen's company has been decimated."_

"What part of it?"

" _The Archers._ "

"Is the flag tank safe?"

" _Affirmative. It's being taken care of by yours truly."_

"Roger that, Mercury 1. Commence the operation as planned, relay me the results. Out." Montgomery said before looking at the map. Judging the reports, it seemed most of it is going well, even if it is one of the more unorthodox moves made in the cadet's history of Tankery.

"Seems about right… Okay, then." He said as he got onto the radio and dialed into a specific frequency set aside for a signal. "Galapagos 1, Galapagos 1, this is King. The golden egg has been laid. I repeat, the golden egg has been laid."

There was a moment of silence as his Comet I crew seemed to realize what he's done. "So it's time sir?" His loader asked him.

"As soon as they can move out."

The radio emitted static before a clear connection was made. _"This is Galapagos 1. Confirmed message received. Moving up front."_

A rumble as the familiar Meteor engine of the Cromwell and Comets roared to life not too far from Montgomery's position. The heavy tracks clacked along even on the dirt. A short while later, Montgomery could hear the sound of trees being crunched to pieces under the moving machine.

"Try to weasel your way out of this, Miho Nishizumi."

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Dandelion is in trouble!" Yukari said to Miho.

"I know!" Miho laid out the map at hand. How much trouble was Dandelion in though? They still have nine tanks on hand. Could they all be wiped out in a span of a few minutes?

Miho's been trying to get a hold of someone from Dandelion team, but there's no answer. She gave up after the third attempt. "Rabbit, Duck; we've lost contact with Dandelion team, I want you to go check it out!"

" _Okay!"_ Azusa replied back as Miho saw their tanks arise from the combat zone onto a road leading towards the direction.

Miho was packing up her stuff now. The changing situation showed her that it was now time to stop being an immobile command post. She picked up her equipment while Yukari grabbed the radio and made their way back to the Panzer IV.

"Something wrong, Miporin?"

"Yeah, up North. Not sure what, but Dandelion's in trouble."

"If we lose them, we'll lose a third of our fighting force." Hana bleakley analyzed the implication of the scenario.

"We've dealt with worse!" Yukari enthusiastically said, driving away the thoughts.

"Yeah…" Miho said as she hooked herself back to the Panzer IV's intercom system and stowed away her extra radio.

" _-got movement on the river!_ " Katyusha's voice suddenly cut in as Miho connected her mic into the tank. " _W-what is that thing?"_

The sound of banging grew in the background, but this time, they were followed by very loud and numerous _CLANG CLANG CLANG_. The sound of ricochet bounced through the trees of the forest.

"Reizei, move forward a little, try to get a view of the river without exposing the Panzer too much."

"Right," Mako made a few swift motions on the running gear and the Panzer IV was back up to speed on the dirt.

They got to a position in the woods with concealment and cover low enough that Miho could look at the river. She saw something, like a beast, crawling on the other end of the riverside.

"W-what's that?" Saori said, looking through the gun sight of the MG 34.

"It's big!" Hana said, looking through the optics for the 7.5 cm KwK 40.

Miho looked at the binoculars and was soon stunned by its appearance. They had… that thing?

"Oh! So _that's_ what they were hiding under the tarp!" Yukari hit a eureka moment, not caring that the many high-velocity rounds heading towards the beast were bouncing off, even the IS-2's 122 mm.

* * *

 **South Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Well, this is certainly interesting!" Anzu saw through her binocular periscope and saw the large lumbering beast making its crawl across the river.

"Take a shot already! It's a legitimate target!" Momo was hitting some sort of limit on her patience waiting on the hill.

"O-kay! Let's see." Anzu effortlessly adjusted the 7.5 cm Pak 39 gun on the Hetzer. She elevated for distance and made a slight account of the wind. "We all ready to fire?"

" _Ready!_ " The radio between the company came alive. All were taking attention to the large metal mass moving through the water. They couldn't make out what it was, but it came from the left side of the river and they knew for certain it isn't their own.

"Fire!" Anzu gave the order just as she was about to press the trigger. The 75 mm recoiled with blast and Anzu traced the outgoing round towards the river target. The other tanks fired too. About five tracer rounds smacked right into the large side armor, but despite the near perpendicular angle of fire, the round disappeared with no effect on the tank.

"Whoa… it's still moving."

"That's a tough tank!" Yuzu said, watching the tracer cannon rounds bounce off the thing.

"We won't be able to penetrate it from here?" Momo said as she loaded the gun. "Then what are we doing here?!"

"Looking for any southern forces… but that might be a bit unnecessary now, right?"

" _Hey! There is someone crossing the river down South!_ " Janne from the KV-1 cut into the radio.

"What?" Anzu was surprised.

" _Pepperoni! I thought you said it was unpassable!"_ Anchovy yelled.

" _It was!"_

" _In that case, they are floating across like a swan,"_ Mika said, observing the scene.

"Wait, what? What kind of tanks are they using?!"

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"So that's a Tortoise?" Hana asked as she looked at the rolling piece of machine on the riverside of S-point.

"A39 Tortoise to be exact!" Yukari explained.

"It's still a better name than 'Maus'!" Saori piped into the conversation. "But golly! That's big!"

"It's slow like one too, so let's try to take it out before it gets here!" Miho said. She ordered through the radio. "Concentrate all fire on the Tortoise! Try to immobilize it!"

The replies of affirmative came in and the fire focused onto the Tortoise. Noises of shells hitting dirt and tree disappear, all replaced by rapid metallic ricochets as the Tortoise's front armor prove invulnerable to Ōarai's firepower.

* * *

"The gun won't depress far enough for the tracks!" Hoshino said as she found the elevation gear stuck and won't move the 88 mm any lower.

"We'll pop out and get a better angle!" Satoko said as she looked at the terrain. "Tsuchiya, when I give the word, try to boost the Porsche down that hill a bit so we can get a better angle."

"Right!" The energetic "drift king" driver said from her position.

"Hey, team. If we can get some cover fire, we can try and immobilize that tank by hitting the tracks!"

" _Roger that."_

" _Okay!"_

The replies from the two school captains present sent the word out, and the tanks of Sunflower became more aggressive, firing more cannons shots and machine gun round.

Satoko watched the incoming enemy fire slow a bit as the Ōarai tanks fired out their shells before withdrawing to cover. Then a barrage of enemy shells came into their direction. When that ended, Satoko gave the word.

"Now! Tsuchiya!"

"Right!" The Porsche engine and motors revved up and the Porsche moved at a speed the original Henschel Tiger could only wish it could. It climbed the small hill in front and headed towards its depression, right before halting on the hill, exposed to the enemy, but with a bulls-eye in sight.

"Now Hoshino!"

"I got it!"

She pressed the 88 mm trigger and the round clanged out with a stunning _BOOM_ that would provide quite an experience to anyone on both sides of the gun.

They didn't bother to check the result. 'Tsuchiya, go!" Satoko ordered and the Tiger (P) drove out of its vulnerable position right in time to avoid the large barrage of incoming enemy fire. Despite showing its long length, Satoko could only hear one round graze the hull.

"Aw, there goes that paint job!"

* * *

"Miporin! Jasmine is reporting enemy crossing the south river!"

"I thought they said it was impossible?"

"Well, not anymore, apparently!" Saori said frantically. While the front situation was being handled, it seemed their flanks were in trouble.

"Crossing a river that's too deep…" Miho thought about it, then lightly kicked Yukari for her attention. "Yukari, the Shermans you saw in that hangar. Did they have anything on them that was different?"

"N-No, they were regular Shermans. M4A2s I think."

"How about any chimneys coming from their engines?"

"Deep-wading kits? No…"

"Any weird attachments on their hull side?"

"Umm… there were the holes for sand shields… but, now that I think about it, there were some a bit bigger than usual…" Yukari recalled. "There were also two larger holes in the back, like an engine exhaust. But… hmm, they did look a bit larger than usual."

"It must be a DD tank," Miho concluded.

"Dang! They must've removed the equipment before I got there!" Yukari frustrated herself, failing to notice those tiny details. Sure, she can tell the difference between a M4, M4A2, M4A4, but she couldn't tell the tiny details of a DD tank?!

"A DD tank?" Saori asked.

"DD tanks are Shermans converted for floating in water, they can even float in the ocean. They were used in Normandy at D-Day."

"What? Wait, how can a 30 ton tank float in water?"

"Playing with physics or something, I dunno. Ask Reizei later. But if they do have it, they're certainly crossing the river now then!"

"Jasmine! How many did you see cross the river?!" Miho asked.

" _We saw them mid-way. Only the last three, not sure how many were in front of those!"_ Anzu relayed their situation.

"They could be making up as much as a third of the enemy force! I need you to hold them back!" Miho sent out an order.

" _We'll try our best! Out!_ "

"Saori, any word from Sunflower yet?" Miho asked Saori.

"No, nothing. Still quiet."

"I need to know what's going on up there…" Miho said before taking her radio again. "Rabbit, Duck, what's going on?"

* * *

 **North East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Azusa was busy trying to catch up with the volleyball team's Type 89. Their small size and reckless agility allowed them to bypass most of the roads and go on their own. Her M3 Lee, however, had to go over the dirt roads to maintain decent mobility through the rough terrain.

"We're still on our way there, but we haven't heard from Saunders!" Azusa replied to Miho through her radio. "However, we are hearing lots of cannon fire from their general location, they might be up over their heads over there!"

" _Do you think you can reinforce them until we can spare some tanks?"_

"We'll try, but-"

" _Gang way! Enemy incoming!"_

Suddenly, she sees Duck team driving back towards her area. From their frantic direction turn and speed, were they running away?

"Huh?"

Azusa failed to react to Duck's transmission as the M3 Lee turned a corner, but in the few seconds she didn't, her medium tank came under fire. A shell came in, bouncing off the front glacis armor of the Lee's hull, right to the driver port, then falling away.

"EEeeeee!" Karina cried out from the surprise shot. The M3 Lee suddenly took a quick throttle forwards.

"No No! Wait! Reverse!" Azusa frantically yelled into her intercom. A jolt and the M3 Lee came to a halt, then another shot came in, glancing off the side top turret with a _CLANG_.

The M3 started reversing, with the two guns on the Lee suddenly scanning the horizon, Azusa included. The shots came from the front, but they weren't near the river! Was Dandelion really decimated?

"Miho! We're taking fire at…" Azusa briefly peeked at a small part of the map she was focusing on. "Uh… About, 200 meters from the river!?"

" _Wait what? Did the enemy already cross the river?"_

"I don't know!" Azusa said as another shot came through.

"They're firing pretty fast!" Aya said as she saw the tracers shot miss.

"And it bounced off our front hull…" Ayumi noted, "it's nothing scary like a 17-pounder, right?"

"Hopefully…" Azusa said. "Duck! What did you see?"

" _There were two vehicles! They didn't look anything like a tank! I think we saw two of those armored cars Miho was talking about with the other captains!"_

"Armored cars?" Azusa remembered them being mentioned, but were they mobile enough to suddenly appear pretty much behind the Ōarai force? The M3 Lee continued reversing behind the lines as another shot missed them. "Duck! I need you to get a clear bearing on where they are so we can engage them here!"

* * *

"Okay!" Noriko said as the Type 89 rocked back and forth with the elevation. "U-TURN!"

"Okay!" Shinobu cried as she grasped the turn levers hardly. The Type 89 made a hard turn back, almost lifting it off one side before it headed straight back.

"Go over that hill! Drive with guts!"

"I feel like I might lose mine…" Taeko said from the co-driver position, feeling queasy from all the turns.

"Then let it all out with courage!"

"Hey hey! Don't do that! I'm not cleaning that up!" Shinobu eyed her neighbor carefully.

The Type 89 went on a flat surface a bit as it returned to the main road, right before another bump up high as it climbed another small hill. It was back off-road as it traveled, weaving between the different trees in the path, with Noriko making sure none of the low-hanging ones hit her.

She judged their position carefully, considering where they were shot at and where they are now. If she thought about it carefully. "Okay, turn left now!"

The Type 89 made a swift turn, with centrifugal force being applied with its full weight as it maneuvered the terrain. They should be somewhere southeast from the armored car position. If they're lucky, they could get a jump on maybe one of them!

"Continue forwards!" Noriko told the crew, which Shinobu obliged. Over a few hills and the such, Noriko heard firing in the woods. The noise bounced around the trees, but their general direction was clear.

The Type 89 got up high on a nearby flat surface of the large hill they were on, looking down the depressing slope towards the dirt road at its base. Noriko held a small monoscope as she observed the terrain. The shots fired again, and she could see the muzzle flashes blasting away the leaves on the ground.

She saw them, two armored cars, hiding behind dense trees firing at a position Rabbit was just at.

"Rabbit! I've got them, behind that collection of trees on the far side of the road. When you peek out, they should be around your 2 o' clock direction!"

" _I see them!_ " Azusa reported after a few seconds, soon enough 37 mm rounds were flying down range towards them, with them taking cover.

"I'll try to take one out from the side!" Noriko said as she directed the Type 89 to make a path around to hit them from the other end of their cover.

The Type 89 progressed over their flat area and rode the slope down towards the cars. The Type 89 swerved through various obstacles as it made its way to the hill's base, rounding around its slope until it could get to position.

Noriko's got her eyes sighted on the cars, as well as the Type 89's 57 mm gun. "Alright, time to-!"

"Watch out!" Shinobu cried out. The Type 89 soon met a violent crash as it rammed into something. Noriko, nearly thrown off, caught herself on the cupola's edge with her body, the metal edge digging into her abdomen.

"Ow! What give-" Noriko wanted to finish the sentence, but froze as she looked up at what they crashed into.

Her first ridiculous thought was that it was a boulder. But a boulder was usually rounded given the erosion from nature, and they typically came in many different shape or sizes. The one "boulder" Noriko was looking at was had a sharp-edged, rectangular-shaped body. Not only that, behind it were about four more "rectangular-shaped boulders". To add to that, these "boulders" had smaller square-shaped boulders on top of them, with a large branch sticking out.

A good five second passed before the the square parts on top of the five boulders started turning, pointing their branches towards her…

Noriko felt a cold sweat in her head, then another.

A loud thunder rang as rain began to fall onto the battlefield.

* * *

 **Forest/Jungle Warfare is very confusing.**

 **So I've been busy with school. I got two essays due within the two weeks, as well as midterms. So my updates are going to go at a slower rate than before. Consider the standard to be "once a month" with exceptions.**

 **I've set up some stuff for you glorious readers! I've set up a forum for you all! It's under the name:** _ **Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament Universe - Forum.**_ **You can do most things related to Girls Und Panzer there! Talk about the anime, talk about other people's fanfic, talk about my terrible writing, talk about tanks, talk about my story. I've got a Q &A section there so you can ask questions on my story as well. You can add topics as well as far as my knowledge of the forums section work. It's my first time with such a system and I hope things go well.**

 **Thank you for your interest and readership!** **If you like the story and can't wait to see more, feel free to to Favorite and Follow the story to keep up with it. I look forward to seeing you all on my next upload!**


	16. Their Finest Hour

_**Girls U**_ _ **nd Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 16: Their Finest Hour**

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"W-what the hell?!" James cried out as his Cromwell rocked violently, throwing him about. His crew had similar statements to the impact. His platoon was just snaking through the dense foliage of the forest before his encounter with… something.

He looked through his cupola periscopes, two in front of him facing a left and right angle to the front. The right side was the forest. Same ol' forest they've been in the last hour. He then looked on the other one. "Blimey! That's an enemy tank out there!"

"I see it!" His gunner yelled out as he traversed the Cromwell turret to the left.

The gun was about to point towards the tiny tank before it sped up. Traveling past the 75 mm gun on the turret. James' gunner fired a shot, but the tank was out of the trajectory.

" _All tanks, focus fire on that blasted little one!"_ James' platoon commander shouted through the radio. The four other Cromwells in the platoon were already reacting, traversing their turrets to follow the tiny, brown tank that looked a lot like the Renault tank at Bovington.

Shots fired, rounds wheezing past each other as the tank danced among the hail fire. "Damn! That's a nimble tank!" James commented

"I don't think it's suppose to move that fast!" His gunner shouted as he worked on the turret's hydraulic traversing mechanism. The turret whirred constantly as he tried to keep the enemy on target. The rain was now hard enough that the impacts on the metal turret are producing a rhythm.

* * *

"Drive! Drive!" Noriko yelled out as rounds flew through the air.

"I'm trying!" Shinobu struggled with the controls as she hastily maneuvered the Type 89 around the close battlefield.

"Let me at it!" Akebi said as she slipped a 57 mm round into the Type 89's cannon, then attending to the fire-control system by hand-cranking the turret to an alignment.

As the Type 89 swerved through the gunfire of the five enemy tanks, the two armored cars the Type 89 had intended to attack first has shifted their attention away from the unorthodox medium tank in front of them to the pest on their left. Their 6-pounder guns in a turret slapped on top of armored cars sait out their high-velocity 57 mm rounds towards the Type 89, in a higher pitched tone than the 75 mm cannons on the Cromwells.

Shinobu quickly pulled on the left steering tiller. The now-moist terrain enhanced the Type 89's swerve out of the predetermined trajectory and the 6-pounder shot grazed the Type 89's turret. Shinobu turned the Type 89 back on track and the turret cannon alignment was pointed right at one of the cars.

"Spike it!"

"Kill!" Akebi made the fine adjustments before pulling the trigger. The Type 89's 57 mm round fired onto one of the cars. The car got blasted onto its side as the round hit high on the turret. The downed car emitted a white flag. The other AEC took note and fired at the incoming Type 89. The high-velocity 57 mm round planted itself onto the front hull of the Type 89, slamming it to a stop before a white flag came up on the roof.

The crossfire took a small tune of silence. The other AEC seemed safe, but then two shots fired out onto it and both shots slammed on the poor car on the body side, sending it tumbling over the side onto the ground.

The neglected Rabbit team in their M3 Lee, with its two smoking barrels, didn't have time to admire their handiwork.

"Reverse!" Azusa yelled out as she heard incoming cannon fire. Five rounds blasted the terrain as the M3 reversed around the bend. The loaders reloaded the two armaments while Azusa got into contact with Miho, "Miho! We've got five enemy tanks in front of us! Armored cars are down and so is Duck! I need reinforcements!"

" _R-Roger that! I'll send what I can!_ _Get out of there!_ " Miho ordered.

"Roger that!" Azusa said back. "Karina, keep reversing! Aya, Ayumi, watch out for those tanks!"

"Right!"

* * *

 **East side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Miho pondered on the situation, rain falling through her open cupola onto her. The situation with Dandelion was unknown, possibly surrounded if not wiped out. There was also the presence of British tanks already across the river at the north, but the speed of their appearance didn't correlate if they fought past Dandelion. Was Dandelion simply bypassed? All that firepower in that group was going to be for nothing if they aren't linked up again. Another situation was at the south, but Jasmine were already moving to counter them.

" _Miho-sha! The cadets are pushing up in the center!"_

* * *

" _What?!"_

Katyusha felt a loud ricochet on her T-34-85's turret top. "They're being very aggressive! Their Churchills pushed out of the cover of the woods and is heading to the Tortoise!"

Fire concentrated on the tanks now out on the S-point. Exposed to all, the infantry tanks bravely took in fire from 85 mm and 17-pounder guns. They surrounded the Tortoise, both angling into a near arrow shape in front of the Tortoise. Fire from the Churchill's 75 mm cannons and 17-pounder shells from Comet's still in the woods on the other side continued battering Ōarai's side.

" _What are they doing?_ " Rosehip asked when her Cromwell got a good angle on the three tanks in the river. " _Ah, wait! Someone's getting out of the Tortoise!"_

Katyusha raised her head higher to see the scene. Two camouflaged uniform people got out of the Tortoise and moved to the left side of the giant assault tank.

" _They're… doing something to the tracks… or something,_ " Rosehip relayed what she saw.

" _Whoa! Did we actually hit it?!_ " The Tiger Porsche crew chimed up.

"The tracks are out?!" Katyusha shouted, "What are we waiting for then?! That Tortoise is a sitting duck!"

" _Calm down Katyusha,_ " Darjeeling said calmly. "That cannon is still operational, and the Tortoise is supported by at least seven tanks besides and behind it.

"I'm not going to let go of this prize! That Tortoise is the biggest threat right now, and it's disabled in front of us! Let's take it out before it can get moving again!"

" _I concur,_ " Nonna agreed with Katyusha, to which Katyusha felt more assertion in her argument.

" _I need some of us to help bolster the north side, we've got enemy tanks coming in!_ " Miho said.

"Damn!" Katyusha loudly complained about this predicament.

" _We'll go,_ " the Leopon crew volunteered. " _You all take care of this sector!_ "

" _You can count on us!_ " Rosehip said as Katyusha heard the electric motors on the Tiger (P) run in reverse out of the sector.

"Okay…" Katyusha evaluated Sunflower's situation. "We still got ten tanks here, six of ours and four of St. Gloriana's…"

" _Large caliber tanks, stick behind for support fire. Medium tanks, move in for the kill,_ " Darjeeling said over the radio.

"I was about to say that!" Katyusha shouted with her authority. "Alright, KV-tan, Nonna! Stand back and support our assault! We're going to hit them hard and close!"

* * *

 **South east side of S-point**

"Sir, I can't see anything." Ben said looking through his periscopic sight. "Rain's dripping down and blurring the glass."

"Is the telescopic sight still working?" Harvey said.

"Yes sir!"

"Look through that then," Harvey scanned the dense foliage. Passing the river was easy, but this side of the map was more dense in foliage than the other. The only visible sight in front was the dirt path, but if there was a tank waiting in the distance...

A point-blank shot struck the side of the second Sherman in the column, right behind Harvey's. The sudden, loud blast rustled the bushes, leaves, and trees in the area. The velocity seemed to burn the shell into the Sherman III side's, and the impact shook the tracks off the suspension.

" _CHRIST!_ " A member in the group shouted.

" _Where the hell are they?!"_

Turrets traversed around as the machinery whirred. Machine gun fired out into the bushes, both 7.62 and 12.7 mm rubber rounds flew around in the forest, hoping to strike something showing something unnatural, but nothing emerged. The firing stopped when it was clear there were no opposing fire.

"Shit…" Harvey could only say to the damaged Sherman behind him. The disabled Sherman with its white-flag standing up blocked their path. "Push that Sherman off the road and follow-up with me. We can't delay and let them regroup."

" _Yes sir!_ " The group replied as the third Sherman behind the second proceed to move around and push the downed Sherman off the dirt road.

* * *

The mischievous tank crew was using the chaos they caused to escape unnoticed. Hearing the vocal British crew shout in panic and confusion made them quite proud of their little feat.

"You know, I thought their spotting mechanism might've found us for sure…" Nekota said as Anteater's Type 3 Chi-Nu maneuvered low in the dense foliage.

"In a game, maybe!" Momonga shouted lively, "But this is real life!"

"Realistic mode, huh?" Piyotan said as she loaded a 75 mm round into the cannon's breech.

"More like Simulator…" Nekota muttered.

" _Oi! Nice one!"_ The chipper voice of Pepperoni cracked through the radio complimenting their performance. Pepperoni and her tankette were moving along with Anteater out of the ambush point, though with a purpose to relocate to continue scouting the Shermans. _"It was a miracle they never saw you!_ "

Anteater crew snickered among themselves on their achievement. While the Type 3 Chi-Nu's interior looked just the same, the exterior has become a work of art in the forest. The new camo nets was plastered all over the turret and top hull of the Chi-Nu, with the addition of large branches of foliage and mosses that have been planted all over the flat surfaces of the Chi-Nu body. Their placement, along with the dark green paint coat on the armor, gave the Chi-Nu the looks of a small tree or fern with a large branch protruding out. A branch that can fire 75 mm cannon rounds out with fiery.

"A-are you all in place y-yet?" Nekota asked the rest of her squad further east.

"Yep!" the student council president of Ōarai said. "Get back over here!"

"R-roger!" Nekota nervously replied as Momoga continued driving their forest-decorated tank towards the rest of their team, ready to apply the lessons the Americans had taught them only a few days ago.

* * *

 **North-East Side** **of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Anglerfishes' Panzer IV rumbled towards the north with Leopon's Tiger (P) lumbering along a few meters back as it struggles to keep up with the medium tank. The rain sogged the ground and the whole place is now a muddy mess. There was enough traction that the Panzer IV was not sinking into the mud, but it was a new situation that required attention as mud had never been a tank's friend.

Miho stood up and looked at her surroundings from the cupola, vision was poor with the darkened clouds blocking the sunlight. As the rain came down, Miho donned an olive drab poncho to stay dry. The other girls inside were relatively dry, aside from the water dripping down the ventilator and hatches.

"Where's Rabbit team?" Miho asked herself constantly. Her question was answered by a salvo of cannon fire, nearly drowned out by the rain and thunder. "Reizei, continue forwards, full speed!"

"Roger that," Mako plainly complied as the Panzer IV throttled forwards. The passage on the mud was still rough with the varying elevation as she maneuvered the tank about. As Mako prepared to turn the Panzer on a corner, they could hear a small roar of an engine, growing louder. Over the corner, Miho could see the rear end of a gasoline-powered M3 chassis, heading right towards them.

"Mako! Reverse!" Miho quickly said. Mako's interaction was short, but brisk as she adjusted the necessary tillers and sent the Panzer IV out of the reverse path of Rabbit's M3 Lee. Their dual-cannons firing at an unseen enemy down the road.

"Rabbit team!" Miho said through the radio, hoping to get through.

" _They're coming!"_ Azusa relayed her situation as quick as possible.

Miho looked at the path the tanks were coming down on. A one-way road towards their destination and woods surrounding them that prevented a clean path through.

"Rabbit team! Stay here and try to delay their advance! Leopon, try to get a good angle of the road at our sector!"

" _Which sector?!"_ Satoko yelled out in confusion.

Miho looked back. Leopon had fallen behind during their advance. _Nuts_ , Miho summarized her predicament. Currently, there were only two tanks available to react against the enemy now.

"Leopon, we're at coordinates…" Miho said her grid quadrant on the field map. "Try to get here ASAP! We're about to get busy!"

" _Roger that! Sorry!_ "

"Rabbit team, follow as planned. Anglerfish, we're going to stop those tanks!"

The words were heavy in significance. Though having a command tank participate in battle is not out of ordinary, as done with the last match, now Anglerfish were putting the team's chances at risk to stop an exploiting enemy force. However, the situation has called for a drastic event and withdrawing wasn't really an option against British cruiser tanks. "Rabbit, what are we going against here?"

" _Like, five medium tanks!_ "

 _Okay…_ Miho deduced it could range from Cromwells to Shermans to Fireflies. Now wasn't a good time to make the fine details so Miho focused at the tactical positions at hand. "Mako, move off the road into the woods. Try to get us a good angle at the road Rabbit came from."

"Roger…" Mako revved up the engine and the Panzer IV took a sharp turn to the left, propelling itself off the mud road into the even more soggy terrain of unadulterated land. It present a rougher ride as Mako maneuvered around the unforgiving bumps and Miho tried to avoid getting striked by a tree branch. The Panzer IV was also not doing well as the scraping foliage tore the _Schürzen_ plates. Those side armor can be such a pain sometimes…

Soon, the Panzer IV found an adequate position that gave a decent view of the road. It wasn't perfect as the road's elevation was slightly higher than the Panzer IV's position so they don't have a view advantage. Not to mention there were blind spots created by the trees, presenting some form of cover to the incoming British tanks.

"Rabbit, we're in position, keep us update on their location."

" _Roger that!_ "

Anglerfish waited what felt like hours as they kept an eye and ear out for anything, though the rain drowned out the small sounds.

" _Here they come!_ " Azusa suddenly replied.

"Keep them distracted and concentrated on you!" Miho said. "But be careful! _"_

" _Right!"_ Azusa said as the small 37 mm cannon on the M3 fired its round down the road. For what it was, the road presented a rather long, straight passage for roughly 75 meters, with little interruptions in the middle. As Rabbit team opened up, it was met with a volley of cannon fire in return.

 _Five shots…_ Miho counted in their rapid fire. _At least five tank… unless they have a heavier tank waiting in the rear…_

Rabbit team fired the 75 mm cannon now, before reversing across the corner. The British tanks continued firing down the road to where Rabbit was. One round flew high and over the target area.

 _So they're firing on the move…_ Miho also deduced, _or that gunner's got some real problems with his scope…_ "Hana, are you ready?"

"I'm ready!" Hana gave her confirmation.

"Okay, hold fire until the first tank almost makes it to the corner Rabbit team is at. Yukari, I need you to load as fast as possible, just like the time in the nationals!"

"You got it, Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari gave her upbeat response as she prepared her hands for fast loads and double-checking the ready ammo rack.

Miho looked up back in her cupola vision ports as the 75 mm cannon on the Panzer IV elevated up at the road above them and traversed right to the area Miho called for. The British tanks should be appearing any moment…

Now!

The British cruiser tanks kept to their words on automotive performances and its tactical role. The first incoming British tank, a Cromwell, came rolling through the mud road like melted butter on a pan, the Christie suspension providing a relatively smooth ride across the rough terrain. Only a few seconds after the first appeared, the next one showed up, then another.

Just as Miho said, right before the first Cromwell made it around the turn that Rabbit was at… "Firing!" Hana yelled as she let loose the powerful cannon. The cannon's muzzle blast would kick up dust that blocked clear visibility for a while, but the wet, rainy conditions ensured that minimal dust got disturbed from the ground. The first Cromwell skidded to a halt as its referee equipment inside reacted to the hard hit from the shell, and the Cromwell came to a drastic halt with a shell imbedded on its hull side in the middle of the road, a white flag popped up.

The other Cromwells following it came to a quick halt, with the second one colliding with the deactivated hulk of the first tank.

"Hit the last tank!" Miho ordered quickly and Hana quickly traversed the gun to the tank on the very left, the last tank in the British column. As she did, Yukari effortlessly threw in another shell into the gun. "Up!" She said as the breech flew upwards to a firing position.

The turret came to an abrupt stop. Hana yelled out, and then the second round landed squarely onto the rectangular Cromwell tank. Miho could see a few tires of the Christie suspension get blown off, pieces scattering about as the tank got immobilized. No white flag flew up.

"Hit it again!" Miho yelled out as she witnessed this. The Cromwell was still in fighting condition. The British tankers were now reacting, scanning about in the woods on their opposers. Some of the commanders finding an epiphany to come out of the cupola to get a view of the landscape.

"Up!" Yukari yelled again as the breech went up.

"Firing!" Hana yelled once more as the 75 mm was sent and slammed itself on the turret of the Cromwell, sending a flag up.

Now blocked off from the front and back, the remaining Cromwells found themselves in quite a situation. In the midst, Rabbit team extended out once more and blasted at the Cromwells, the 37 mm painfully bouncing off but the 75 mm cracking the tracks of the second Cromwell in the line. The injured Cromwell, finding an enemy to kill, blasted squarely at the M3. A shell landed right on the flat front armor area where the driver's port was situated and caused the M3 to shake about violently. Unfortunately, the algorithm of the referee equipment determined that no miracle was to happen, and the M3 Lee ended in defeat as a white flag emerged.

"Up!" Yukari yelled once again. Her words carried a shortness of breath as she worked rapidly in the turret interior.

"Firing!" Hana yelled as well on the fourth Cromwell in the line-up. She finished it off with a round flat on the sides.

The last two Cromwells struggled as they were picked off one-by-one, their actions frantic. As Hana took out the fourth one, the third Cromwell in the line had tried to maneuver off the trap. Doing so, it went off the road and started careening down the slope towards the depression that Anglerfish were at. Miho saw the tank slide down the slippery slope and rest in an area of lower elevation of the Panzer IV's current position. She had a clear view of it, but that meant the enemy also could have a clear view of her. "Hana! Take out the tank that slid down! Hurry!"

Hana quickly traversed the turret right on the power as her hands manipulated the elevation gear to point the gun barrel from up to down. Yukari picked up another round, her arms starting to feel like they were burning from strain. As the two worked, Miho saw the Cromwell's turret start to swing towards them.

"He's aiming right for us!" Saori yelled out as she could see the situation unfolding through the vision port of her MG34 machine gun. She let loose a few bursts in a futile effort to drive off the enemy. Mako looked on through her vision port, waiting for any last second orders to get the Panzer IV away from the firing line.

The Cromwell's traverse turned as if time slowed down. The mechanical details of each cog and gear finely moving alongside each other. That was how Hana felt as each degree she turned the elevation, the individual teeth of the gear made a distinctive _click_ sound to indicate its function. But the gun's elevation was still above the Cromwell, yet the opposer was about to get on target. She saw as by each degree the Panzer's gun depressed, the Cromwell gun came closer to alignment. Going against time, the two tanks raced for an on-target shot.

At last, Hana saw the triangles that made up her Panzer IV's optic reticle land on the Cromwell, and she could see the dark hole down the Cromwell's own 75 mm cannon. In the chaos, she never heard an "up" sound, and she didn't care. She pulled the trigger expecting, and she got it. The Panzer IV won the quick draw, and the Cromwell suddenly crumbled under the force. Hana saw the shell tracer lead up to the top of the Cromwell's turret front, and that was enough for a white flag to emerge on top.

Yukari let off a sigh of relief from that, but Hana quickly shouted upon hearing that. "Load, Akiyama! There's still one more!"

Yukari instantly shot up remembering, her aching arms suddenly warding off the feelings in a quick shot of adrenaline. In the chaos, Miho also forgot about the last Cromwell, the second in the column that got track-shot by Rabbit. Hana quickly traversed the turret, but Miho saw the Cromwell has got the gun mostly on the Panzer IV now.

"Forwards!" Miho loudly shouted.

Without hesitation, Mako pushed the Panzer IV forwards. On the position it was at, the forward movement sent it down depression the previous Cromwell was at. The Cromwell still up on the road fired. It aimed high, high enough to hit the turret face of the Panzer. Instead, the quick movement of the Panzer IV by Mako had the shell hit at an angle that, despite the thin turret armor, bounced the shell off to the distance. Anglerfishes' Panzer IV went down and skidded to the side, maneuvering around. Soon a very high-pitched whistle following by a metallic _KLANG_ sounded that seemed to echo through the woods. Miho looked up at the road, where the noise of the white flag on the Cromwell came up. Miho looked at the direction away from the Cromwell deep in the woods and saw Leopon team with their 88 mm gun smoking from spent propellent.

"That was a close one…" Yukari muttered.

Miho sighed a breath of relief. "Thanks Leopon!"

" _No problem!_ "

Miho got a bearing of the situation once more. "Now, let's go find out what happened to Dandelion…"

* * *

 **Center of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Katyusha, Klara, and the two other Pravda T-34-85s along with Rosehip and her two Cromwells propped up behind cover in depressions of the terrain, waiting for the right moment as the rain gets stronger by the minute. Looking out the commander's cupola, she saw Darjeeling's Black Prince maneuver around while the Churchill attracted incoming fire while it stayed put. Nonna's IS-2 and KV-tan were also examining over their hatch, not for where they are maneuvering, but watching as each muzzle flash of the 17-pounder blast away at any exposed tanks it sees, watching for a pattern or any area a certain flash exist at.

" _Sunflower, are you all ready?_ " Darjeeling's voice spoke through the radio.

"Let's stop wasting around! I'm ready!" Katyusha said.

" _Yeah! Ready to rumble!_ " Rosehip shouted enthusiastically as always.

Katyusha steeled herself as she waited for the right moment to attack.

" _Go!_ " The order came, but not for the medium tanks.

The three heavy tanks hiding until now rumbled out of their cover and took their shots. The Black Prince and IS-2 fired across the river, striking at their targets, though the obscurity of the forests made it hard to confirm kills. The KV-2 took aim at the three tanks at the center. Finally, the 152 mm howitzer roared its payload. The 152 mm shell careened towards the right Churchill of the two protecting the immobile Tortoise. Despite the 152 mm armor plating present on the Churchill models, anything hit by a six-inch round typically had the referee equipment go haywire from the massive calculations it must make.

Basically, the crew were not about to have a good day.

The impacting bulk of mass seemed to send the Churchill front upwards upon impact, physics be damned. The poor Churchill sputtered as something inside overloaded, and in a surprising form of miscalculation, five white flags emerged on the top and sides of the infantry tank.

"Go!" Katyusha screamed out to her crew and into her radio. The blasting howitzer was the key they were listening for. It didn't matter if the 152 mm hit anything or not, anyone down range would be stunned by the sound report. Soon, seven medium tanks made charge down out of their little hill into the conflicting S-point. The two heavy vehicles resting about the center, seeing the charging Japanese school tanks, were frantically firing away. The crews attempting to repair the Tortoise tracks panicked and returned into the shell of their assault gun. The 75 mm of the Churchill simply bounced off the front glacis of the T-34-85, but the 32-pounder 94 mm gun of the Tortoise made its mark on a Cromwell, sending it spinning like a top on impact before skidding to a halt and with a white flag.

Six more medium tanks closed the gap between the two stranded British. The Ōarai tanks moved nearly unhindered from the water resistance due to the low water levels and soon they were not more than 50 meters from the enemy tanks. The Churchill, loaded up with another 75, took another ineffective shot on the assailing tanks. Klara's T-34-85 responded to this by driving around the Churchill to its left side. The Churchill attempted to turn to respond to the flanker, but Klara's T-34 shot an 85 mm shell into the side plates on the suspension. The metallic crack of the shell meeting the armor echoed past the gun blast and engine sound into the tank, and the crew did not hear the white flag come up as they fired one more round into the already-disabled tank.

Katyusha's T-34-85 made its way to the right side of the Tortoise. The heavy assault gun, immobile and surrounded by the enemy, was a sitting duck as Katyusha's T-34 aligned its gun to a perpendicular angle onto the hull side armour. She fired, the shell dug into the armor with a loud impact, but no white flag popped up.

"Okay now, what the heck?" Katyusha said in disbelief.

" _That armor is as tough as a honey badger!"_ Rosehip yelled out, witnessing this debacle.

" _Hit the rear!_ _That's the only reasonable weak point!_ " Someone from St. Gloriana cried out in the radio, probably one of the Cromwell driver.

"I know where to hit it!" Katyusha barked out as the T-34 started moving towards the rear of the Tortoise. Suddenly, a volley of fire rained from the other side of the river, focused on the six tanks in the center of S-point. Unable to advance, the tanks took cover behind the hulk of immobile or knocked out tanks to take the shots, to the chagrin of the crew still inside the British tanks. Ironically, the largest, heaviest armored tanks of the British provided adequate cover for Ōarai. Shots came a lot more slowly as they hit the tanks hiding behind the Tortoise.

As the six medium tanks huddled next to the Tortoise and Churchills, the Tortoise started to turn on it single working left track, its gun seemingly aiming or whacking away at the close-quarter tanks.

"Klara! Knock out that remaining track!" Katyusha ordered as the Tortoise's bulk dragged the T-34s with its movement. A blast of high-explosive round and soon the clatter of metallic links signified the mobility kill of the Tortoise.

17-pounder shells from a multitude of Comets continued to fall on the girls. As the Black Prince and IS-2 attempted to track each muzzle flash, the damage was done. Two other T-34-85 were knocked out from the enemy attack and only four remained.

"Damn it!" Katyusha exasperated, "of all places to be pinned down at!"

* * *

 **South Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

Cannon fire blasted through the woods, echoing through the dense foliage.

"Here they come, get ready!" Erwin said, as she looked through the binocular scope available to her, leaves in the way as the foliage camouflage and camo net swayed in the wind.

Hippo team were not the only one present. They've set up a cross-fire with Turtle team's Hetzer. A first line of defense has been constructed against the intruding enemy. The mountain that Jasmine occupied prior was now empty to deal with the threat. Jasmine has been placed on the defensive against the incoming Shermans, the question remaining on how the two will meet.

The first vehicle revealed itself on the road. Pepperoni's L3/33 tankette sped down the mud, floating over with its light weight design. Hippo and Turtle held their fire as the L3/33 whizzed past them.

" _We took a few pot shots! Not sure if they took the bait though!"_ Pepperoni cried through the radio.

From then on, it was up to the enemy's decision making process.

The roads from the river towards the rest of the area split into two parts around the halfway mark. One went up the mountain Jasmine had occupied, the other went down around the base. Both led to the southern flank of the rest of Ōarai's forces.

As such, it was important to stop them at one of the roads. As Saemonza sighted down the road, only a mere 150 meters range from their camouflaged position in the woods. Despite the rain, the creaks and roar of the running tanks could be heard.

A tank was visible, a Sherman. Saemonza aimed the triangular reticle onto the target. "Hold on Saemonza, not yet," Caesar called out to her. "Wait for my signal."

Indeed, the Sherman seemed to move sluggishly in the distance. Saemonza is certain that a shot could tear through the foliage and hit the Sherman square on, but she abided by the Caesar. The Shermans soon moved faster, down the road towards them.

A Sherman now made its full view on the road towards the history fanatic girls. Saemonza could make out the welded hull in the front, with the crew hatches in front protruding. She focused the sights on following those protrusions. It was certainly getting closer as Saemonza kept her bead on it. The enemy tank was not more than 100 meters before Caesar gave the word. Despite this distance, the Sherman made no sign that it spotted the StuG or Hetzer waiting, an indication on just how usefulness the applied camouflage was with everything they placed on it.

"Fire!" Caesar yelled out, and so did the StuG. It spat out a fiery shell onto the Sherman's front armor. At this range, even the sloped front glacis would not save it. The round signaled the Sherman's destruction and after a dramatic show of energy transmission, a white flag emerged from the Sherman.

In rapid order, the Hetzer also fired off a round. An echo sounded of another Sherman knocked out. Hippo could not tell how many tanks were in the Sherman column in front of them, only that they knocked out the lead tank. They could hear shouting coming from the British side as they remained calm and their respective loaders put another round into the gun.

"Prez! How many are there?" Erwin said into the radio.

" _I can't tell! 4 or 5! Top total! We took out another one, aiming for an-"_ The radio transmission was interrupted with a loud blast outside. _"We're being blasted here!_ "

" _We're on it!_ " Anteater came in. Still traveling from its initial ambush position, the Chi-Nu stalked the Shermans and approached it from Ōarai's left.

Nekota could see the column of Shermans halted from the encounter. The Chi-Nu fired at a Sherman with its turret facing away from it since it was aiming at the Hetzer, assumingly. Three down, and there was one more, all the way in the rear. Decimated, the lone survivor was reversing away from the predicament.

"One more, Momoga go after it," Nekota said with a hint of lethargy.

"Momoga!" Momoga yelled out her battle cry as she lurched the tiller to turn the Chi-Nu towards the Sherman's direction. It traveled along the road, in concealment of the woods. Piyotan traversed the turret to the tank's 3 o' clock, waiting for the Sherman to come into view.

"Piyo, there's a clearing up ahead, be ready."

"Right!" Piyotan confirmed as she steadied her hands.

The Type 3 Chi-Nu moved as fast as possible out in the open. It was a clear view on the road, and the Sherman on it. Piyotan saw it through her scope, but also saw the barrel end of the Sherman looking right at them.

"Oh s-" Piyo slipped out as she hastily pressed the fire button. In the muzzle flash that followed, she could also see one emerge from the Sherman's 75 mm. Then the Type 3 took a heavy lurch, like it was thrown around. The tanks made a small twirl before settling and letting a white flag emerge.

"Ah man!" Momoga said, irked by the circumstance.

Nekota recovered from the small encounter with inertia as she looked through the cupola view ports at the Sherman. The body was still fine, but the damage was done. A bogie on the suspension was blown off, the wheels rolled off from the explosive force as the suspension failed to keep the Sherman afloat. The Sherman turret seemed to be looking around frantically, panicked by its immobility.

Down the road where the Sherman reversed from, Nekota could see a vehicle pop out from the roadside onto the road facing directly at the immobile Sherman. Hippo's StuG III came like a moving bush; vines, leaves, and all sorts of foliage had been planted on the armour, even dirt itself. As the StuG III came to a halt, the dangling vines swinging about, it didn't spare a moment to aim and destroy the remaining Sherman in the column.

"Sorry about that. We're out… Sorry" Nekota said through her radio.

" _No problem! You did great!"_ The encouraging words from the student council president lifted Nekota's spirit slightly. " _We'll handle it from here!_ "

* * *

 **Center of the S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Cheeky little bastards, aren't they?" Monty's hull machine gunner said through the crew comms, with the situation unfolding before them.

"Like a bunch of angry rabbits…" Montgomery muttered out loud inside his Comet I. He grabbed the radio, "Talk to me boys, what's going on out there?"

" _Duck here! Suffered heavy casualties! Down to three units!_ "

" _Mercury here! We're decimated!_ "

"What?!" Montgomery yelled in surprise. "Okay, okay… Queen, where are you?"

" _Northern flank,"_ Emma's voice came in. " _Sweeping up with the stragglers here. We took out an entire battle group."_

"Well that's music to my ears," Montgomery said in relief. "You're the only one up north now. The operation is still in play, put tension on their flanks. They are extending themselves right now on the river against our little turtle."

" _Roger that,"_ Emma said before snickering. " _I'll destroy them."_

"Don't get over yourself just yet, out." Montgomery finalized before changing his channels from team to his group. "Alright you buggers. They're sticking their hand into a snapping turtle. Let's bite them off."

* * *

 **South Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

North of the road that the encounter between four Shermans and Jasmine took place, the road going around the base of the hill on the south was occupied by the rest of Jasmine. Anchovy took a reconnaissance lead on a higher elevation than the rest of her teammates. She looked with binoculars around for the incoming Shermans, if any. An engine rumble was heard to her left and for a second she worried it was the enemy before recognizing the distinctive tankette noises.

"Duce!"

"What, Pepperoni?!" Anchovy yelled above the ambient noises between two tanks and the rain.

"I led a few tanks towards the south into the guns, but there are some still heading this way!"

"Well go up and check then!" Anchovy ordered.

"Okay!" Pepperoni said before the tankette sped off again in a recon duty.

Anchovy relayed the message to her little team. "Alright, they're probably coming now girls. I sent a scout to confirm that, but get ready." Phrases of affirmatives came in as she tended to her tank. Surely the P40 is good enough against the incoming Shermans? After all, the P40 was the best Italian tank there is! It was Anzio's secret weapon! Right?

" _Duce! The British are coming! The Bri- Gah!"_ An explosion blast interrupted the transmission from the frantic scout.

"Pepperoni? You okay?!" Anchovy asked for assurance.

A pause. " _I'm okay, but we're out! Sorry Duce!_ "

"You did your job, now let us do ours!" Anchovy said. "Alright girls, here they come!"

To the girls in their various firing positions, the heard the blast and already deduced that they were coming from the enemy. It was quite an assortment of vehicle available at hand. Mallard team's Char B1 bis and Continuation's two vehicles were present on the road side waiting for the vehicles to appear while Anzio's Semovente and P40 waited at a road bend, putting them in front of where they would be face-to-face with the Shermans. They waited with anticipation for the large lumbering medium tanks to appear.

They seemed to crawl out cautiously on the mud road. The first Sherman drove out in front of Anzio tanks, out barely 150 meters away in front of them. Anchovy gulped on seeing the tank, suddenly feeling very excited for the fight to break out. The Shermans traveled forward omnimously. The gunner ranged the target at around 100 meters now… then 90… then 75.

"Okay, here we go! Fire!" Anchovy gave the signal, then the tank gave the first shot in the engagement. In a quick succession, Carpaccio had the Semovente fire its 75 mm round as well. The P40's 75 mm flew confidently at its target, not as powerful as the Sherman's or Panzer IV's, but enough power enough for damage. Unfortunately, the slope angle on the Sherman's hull caused the shell to glance off. The Semovente's 75 mm was even weaker than the P40's, but the slow muzzle velocity proved to be a shining sword when using HEAT ammunition. The HEAT-statistics in the shell was enough to blast itself on the Sherman. It made its mark and the lead Sherman brought out a white flag.

The others did their work, concentrating their fire at another tank, knocking it out when the shells blasted the side armour. However, the last tank in the column charged rather than withdraw. It drove off the road into the opposite road side the three ambushing tanks were at.

"Gah, they dropped out of view!" Sodoko cried out, unaware she is also reacting by kicking poor Moyoko on the shoulders.

"I'll get them!" Janne yelled out loud enough to be heard without the radio and her KV-1 crew suddenly drove up and over the road to the runaway Sherman.

The Sherman drove forwards in the woods, going past its broken down teammates. Unaware, the Anzio crew wondered what was up with the frantic radio transmission.

"What do you mean 'one got away'?"

" _Damnit Anzios, they're heading right for you!"_

"Huh? Where?" Anchovy demanded an answer.

" _Duce! To our r-!"_ Carpaccio's voice briefly interrupted before a blast and a shell impact blast echoed near Anchovy, who nearly threw her radio piece into the air in surprise. The Italian self-propelled gun was blasted in an unknown direction. Anchovy looked around frantically, until she saw the stalking Sherman to her right.

"Traverse right!" Anchovy insisted and the tank's power traverse brought the P40's turret around, but the Sherman fired again and the P40 got blasted head-on with the Sherman's shell. As Anchovy got herself steadied from the shock, a hatch in front of her opened and a white flag popped into her head.

As Anchovy slumped from the impact, the Sherman was about to continue forwards when a rude shell blasted its rear. The KV-1, catching up, had shot a 76.2 mm shell into the Sherman's hull rear. The Sherman's engine stopped immediately, a response from the referee machine to an impact. Though a loss in mobility, the Sherman was still legitimately in the fight.

"Aatami! Load the round!" Janne ordered her crew. "Matti, get us on their side. We're going to blow it sky high!"

"I put this thing to a stop and now you want to move it forwards?!" Matti openly complained about the woe of a KV-1 driver while manipulating the gear and tillers with her trusty hammer. "Make up your damn mind!" She whacked the gear shift with the last syllable and the KV-1 rumbled forwards once more.

The Sherman crew, on the other hand, were desperately fighting for their life now against the mechanics of the Sherman. Out of power, the power traverse did not work, so the gunner inside was rapidly rotating the manual gears to move the turret. The Sherman's manual was relatively fast for the time and the KV crew could see the turret turn towards their direction as they sped closer to it. "C'mon Matti, faster!"

"It's going as fast as it can on first gear!"

As the KV-1 closed in at the Sherman's 7 o' clock, the turret was facing the 9 o' clock from the hull. Before the girls knew it, the turret was facing at them and it fired. The 75 mm shell bounced off the front hull of the KV-1, not that the girls cared as a combat-active tank was still shooting at them.

"Aatami! Load, goddamn it!"

"I'm trying!" Aatami said as she was down on the turret floor grabbing another 76.2 mm shell. With all the gadgets in the way, it was a miracle she hasn't tripped over any one of them in the match so far. She got a firm grasp on a shell by the casing, lifted it up, and sent it into the breech. "Up!"

"Petri, fire when ready!"

"Got it!" Petri said as the KV-1 nearly passed by the 9 o' clock position of the Sherman. The turret traversed a bit with the gun depressing a few degrees. "Firing!" The 76.2 mm shell fired, but instead of a firm concrete slam of armour, an explosion bursted right on the armour. Janne could feel the blast shock wave come over the turret to where she was on the cupola.

"Aatami, you idiot! Load AP!"

"Alright, alright, alright. Give me another moment!" Aatami went back to work down in the depths of the KV-1.

The Sherman, readjusting its turret towards the KV-1, became an even deadlier target at this range. At near point-blank range both tanks were capable of knocking each other out. "Matti, turn right!" Janne quickly ordered so the KV-1 orbited the immobile Sherman.

"Gah!" Matti pulled a tiller and the KV-1 made a slow, sluggish turn to the right. The Sherman crew having a heck of a time keeping up with the KV-1 with their manual traverse.

The KV-1 made for one more pass when Aatami finally got a round, confirmed AP, into the gun. "Up!" Aatami screamed.

"Firing!" Petri also yelled as the KV-1's muzzle swept the Sherman's side. The KV-1's shell finally made its mark and eliminated the last remaining Sherman.

The engagement over, Jasmine had suppressed the threat in the south. Their losses being all of Anzio and Anteater's Chi-Nu.

" _Quite a shoot-out…_ " Someone said in the radio.

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

" _Is an-ne, o-t there? -ello?! Hello?! Re-ond! Hello?!"_

These messages came in as the Panzer IV traveled on the mud road towards the north alongside a steep slope downwards to a ravine on their left and upwards to a hill on their right. "Miporin! The radio's picking up some garbled message!" Saori relayed what she heard to Miho.

"Who is it?" Miho asked.

"I'm not sure, there's a lot of interference… But it's the same frequency as Dandelion!"

Miho switched over to the same frequency, the Panzer IV and Leopon halting as they recalibrated the transmissions.

" _An-ne there? -ck! Can't anyone hear me?!"_ The voice suddenly became clear as Miho adjusted the channel frequency and the antenna.

"Kay?! Is that you?" Miho relayed.

" _Miho?! Is that you?!_ " Kay's voice frantically tried to make the connection.

"Yes, Kay. It's Miho. What's going on?! How's Dandelion?!"

" _We've bought the farm!"_

"Huh?" Miho didn't make sense of that phrase.

" _They're coming from the north, large numbers! They've chewed us up to the last tank!"_

"So Dandelion… is gone?" Saori reached the conclusion.

" _Watch out Miho, they've already bypassed us and at this point they're probably already on their way to your location!"_

As the message came through, something in the horizon seemed to move. Miho looked up and came a dreadful surprise. There was a Sherman, a Sherman Firefly with its elongated cannon barrel and its spherical muzzle brake.

"Hana, in front!" Miho yelled out. Hana got into the sight as fast as possible. Before the two tanks could react, Leopon took its first shot with its 88 mm onto the Sherman and blasted it apart with a hit near the suspension, white flag popping up. "We're fighting with the northern flank force!"

Another Firefly appeared behind the knocked out Sherman, its cannon traversing towards their direction. It blasted a round out, missing the two tanks present there. Leopon and Anglerfish fired back, hitting the knocked out Sherman instead.

" _Miho! On the right hill!_ " Satoko cried out as Miho looked back at the Tiger (P). The Tiger (P) was traversing its turret up the crude hill to their right. On the top of the hill were three Achilles tank destroyers coming down onto them. Miho spotted one, one she remembered from the first match at Britain with its distinctive red and blue decorations that made it stand out among the others. Another point making it stand out was a long flag rod extending to the air.

 _The flag tank?!_ Miho saw it. It was a chance, but the flag tank of Ōarai was about to be surrounded as well. As the three M10 Achilles mauled the Tiger to bits with their guns, Anglerfish found themselves very alone now.

"AAH! What do we do?!" Saori panicked under the situation. Miho looked at it again, three tank destroyers to her rear, several medium tanks in front. Right side was blocked by the rocky side of the hill. The only escape was to the left down the slope…

"Mako, turn left! Now!" Miho quickly said only seconds after Leopon's white flag emerged.

The Panzer IV quickly turned to the left, shells flying as the British cadets excitingly tried to nail the flag tank of the opposing team. In a manner that seemed to defy their expectations, the Panzer IV drove itself off the road to their left.

Miho had a glimpse over the side before the Panzer IV tipped off. Suddenly, she felt an attack pounce on her. She saw herself two years ago in the nationals, watching the Panzer III slip off the mountain side into the roaring river. The rain clouding everything as Miho saw something flash before her, and gasped strongly for air.

Miho quickly fell into her cupola, and locked the hatches shut. "Brace yourselves!"

* * *

"Are they daft?!" Was the common reaction to this spectacle. The Panzer IV rolled down the slope like a rock as the Achilles and Fireflies closed in. The crew inside were sticking their heads out to make sure this incredulous event was not battle stress, or maybe it was the product of one.

Even Emma, almost jumping out of her commander's position in her Achilles, became concerned on the crew's safety. She determined there was only one way to find out from her position. "Is the match still on?" She said to Montgomery.

A pause followed before Montgomery got back. " _King here. Yes, the match is still ongoing. Why?"_

"Well we've got a visual on their flag tank, but… we lost visual." Emma oversimplified the scenario.

" _Find them then_ ," Montgomery laid out the obvious path.

"Affirmative. Queen out," Emma finished the transmission. She took out a map and looked at the terrain. She also had her turret crew take a look for confirmation. "She fell down here…" pointing to the contour area near the road that the column was on. "So...the only way we can get a direct view of them would be going around here…"

The area Miho fell down at was a large depression in the forest. According to the map, there was barely any accessible methods to that area via tanks. A very careful travel was needed to maneuver around the slopes and hills to get down there in one piece, an action the Panzer IV had forgo on survival instincts. Emma sighed out in frustration on how victory was snatched from her maw. "Alright boys, let's get this blasted match over with…"

* * *

 **Center of the S-point - Quebec, Canada**

The Tortoise continued to be persistent by firing its cannon on the heavy tanks still residing on the east side of S-point. The four medium tanks in the middle, 50-50 mixture between St. Gloriana and Pravda, were caught there as the cross fire between the two sides intensified. The medium tanks found it hard to emerge itself without being shot at. Already twice the tanks had and were met with rapid ricochets and impacts.

" _Ms. Katyusha, they're coming at you!"_ Nonna's voice warned Katyusha.

"What do you mean?!"

" _They are coming down the hill towards you!_ "

"What?!" Katyusha's T-34-85 emerged itself as if looked aside a wall, which the Tortoise is serving perfectly at, and saw Comets approaching. They had left their hiding places in the woods on the west side and were now on the shore side of the river, getting closer to the tanks. "Closing in on us, huh? Everyone fire at them!"

The clash became chaotic as the two sides fought out the engagement. The Comets closed in, their frontal armour was tough enough against the 75 mm guns on the Cromwell and Churchill, relying on Pravda to do the majority of the damage. However, their guns can only fire so fast in the time span before the Comets entered point-blank range between the medium tanks. As they did, the exposing tanks were blasted by the Tortoise's 32-pounder cannon. After the KV-2 shot out a howitzer round at the Comets, the Tortoise landed a shot onto the KV and that was the end of it.

The tanks traded blows. The long barrels of Katyusha's T-34-85 soon contacted the barrel on a Comet, jousting about with the barrels unable to align onto each other's armour. A Cromwell tried to get on the conflicting Comet's side to hit it, but the Cromwell earned a shell to the turret face and was deactivated. In exchange, another Comet came to the side and caught with Katyusha's T-34 instead. Before anything could be made, the Comet fired a shell into Katyusha's T-34-85 and its resistance was over.

"Ms. Katyusha!" Nonna cried out as Katyusha's T-34-85 is left as an immobile metal bunker. The IS-2 thrusted out again for another shot with the 122 mm field gun. Without caring of her own vulnerabilities, Nonna aimed through optics on one of the Comets that attacked Katyusha's T-34. She blasted one away with a 122 mm, but soon she felt a very strong impact on the turret front. She could hear the metal friction between the force and the gear inside the turret as the kinetic energy transferred. The impact stunned Nonna for a moment. As she shook off the disorientation, she went straight back to her gun sights. Aligning the reticle to the Tortoise, she aimed at its armour and initiated the firing mechanism, but nothing happened.

"Loader, load round!" Nonna ordered the crew.

"There's no point, Ms. Nonna!" The crew told her.

"What do you mean?!" Nonna looked at the disobedient loader, who yelped back in fear.

"W-we're out…" The girl meekly said. "Like, as in out of the game…"

"Huh?" Nonna said as she started to climb out of her position to the cupola, the girl sitting there observing pushed aside as Nonna got a view of the outside world from the cupola. But there it was, a white flag on the top of the IS-2 turret. Nonna could feel her emotions suddenly empty out with her inability to do anything now.

Darjeeling saw this and knew their situation was not longer tenable. "We seem to be in a sticky situation now…"

"That would be an understatement…" Orange Pekoe calmly said as she held onto a 17-pounder shell.

As Klara's T-34 and the last remaining Cromwell succumbed to the British wave, Darjeeling requested reinforcement. "Jasmine team, how are you?"

" _We dealt with the Shermans down here, all clear!_ " Anzu replied.

"Good, we need you here, now. Our situation is going a bit sour…"

" _Sour?"_

"The enemy is pushing across the river. I and my Churchill are the only ones left here."

" _That's bad… We're on our way now!_ " Anzu's voice became rushed as she also realized the gravity of the situation. Indeed, there was now only seven tanks on the center and south of S-point. " _Hey! Where's Miho?!_ "

"She went to the North… I'm not sure what had become of her. But if we're still in play, she's holding out."

* * *

 **North-East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

"Ugh…" Everything was woozy, and blurry. Darkness surrounded the girls in their new location.

"Miho, are you okay?!" She heard a voice calling out.

Miho got her mind set straight, shaking off the blur and numbness. She opened her eyes again and saw Yukari in front of her. "Yukari…" Miho mumbled out before she remembered what had happened. "Is everyone alright?!"

"Yes we are!" Saori called out. "What about you Miporin?!"

Miho checked herself for any pain. "I'm fine, I think I'm good."

"That's a relief…" a concerned Hana said.

"Where are we?" Mako asked.

Miho unlocked the cupola split hatch on top of her, and peered out. It looked as if they were in the middle of nowhere, teleported right out of their zone to a new mystical land. The forest and foliage consumed their location, lost to nature and to the sunlight under the dense leafy roof they are under. Even the rain seemed to disappear as it was caught by all the tree branches above them.

Miho looked back at the slope that they fell from. They had slid down into a depression near the hill. The Panzer IV was in relatively good condition, though the _Schürzen_ plates on the hull have all been shaken off. "Mako, how's the tank's power?"

"Engines are running fine…" Mako said, "But I think we threw the tracks…"

Miho got up and out the Panzer IV and found herself outside in the forest again. As several stray drips of rain water dropped on her poncho, Miho got off the Panzer IV onto the ground, with the muddy ground squishing higher than the soles of her boots. She took a look at the tracks, "Yep, the right track is all torn up." She walked over to the other side. The left tracks had been walked off, but the track links were still surprisingly intact.

Miho got back into the Panzer IV's cupola. "Tracks are in bad condition, but we can fix it up with time…" She said and looked around. "We have to get ourselves out of this little trap here. Hana, what can you aim at from here?"

Hana looked through the gun optic and power traversed the turret around a bit to check her angles. "I can aim just above the rim of this depression there," Hana gestured towards the rim of the shallow depression they are in. "But I can't get a good luck due to the foliage."

"Alright…" Miho noted the tactical situation. So technically speaking, they were in a perfect hull-down position. However, the foliage covering the rim made it nigh impossible for a clean aim at a distance. Despite all the trees, the land past the depression was relatively flat with little elevation and depression. "Try fixing the tracks, I'm going get into contact with the team about our situation."

"Okay," Anglerfish crew said as hatches open and they climbed out to do their work. Miho messed around the radio. "Sunflower, this is HQ. Do you copy, over?"

Silence.

"Sunflower, are you there?" Miho asked again with no reply. "Dandelion, can you hear me?" Again, no reception on the company and team channels. Miho checked the antenna, which had no damage. Desperately, she hit the radio a few times with her fist. After receiving nothing but static and interference, she threw the receiver aside and climbed out of the cupola with her map and binoculars.

"Something wrong, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari saw the exasperated Miho when she climbed out.

"Radio's useless now, we're on our own…"

"Isolated…" Mako summed it up.

"What now?" Saori asked nervously.

"Continue with the tracks. As long as we're alive, Ōarai still has a chance." Miho said, giving orders to keep the girls busy and not worrying about their predicament.

"What about you Miho?" Hana asked.

"I'm going to take a look around, check our surroundings. Be ready to get back in the Panzer just in case."

"Be careful Miporin!" Saori said as Miho walked off from the tank, looking back a few time to see them working on the tracks.

Miho smiled as the bond between them extended beyond just school friendship, but with the tank they've crewed for more than a year now. She kept that in her mind as she walked about the woods, making sure her actions now will benefit them as a whole. Also as a payment to the stupid action she did on that road, driving the Panzer IV off like that, almost as if she had no respect of her loved machinery.

She noted the area they have access in. Making mental notes on the large ravine they are trapped in. The distances the Panzer IV could fire at, the width of the area, the density of the foliage, and other landmarks like trenches and hills present that stuck out like a sore thumb in the flat land. All this in relative to the Panzer IV's position, making sure that it could have a good firing view if needed. While at it, she also looked for an exit out of the ravine.

She walked for minutes, the place being larger than she could imagine. She used the silence and ambience to think. Some hopeful like the condition of the rest of the team, some horrible like thinking how she's abandoned her team by going off alone, and now trapped in this situation where no one may ever find them. Amidst the thundering in the air, she believed a few of those were actually cannon fire blasting in the air. What had happened with the rest of the team? Sunflower and Jasmine? Were they doing okay?

She noted a disruption in a slope side a distance away in the darkness, and saw with her binocular what seemed like a ramp that could carry them out of this predicament. Miho sighed in relief, "Oh good, there's a way out." As if her words cleared her mind for a second, she heard a new sound in the air. Engines were rumbling in the dark woods and the low lighting did not hinder the fact that something was moving at the place she noted. Miho looked through her binoculars again and saw it. A Firefly came down rumbling off the ramp, then another…

Miho didn't stay around to find out if more was coming before running back to her friends and her tank.

The brief scouting already gave Miho a good idea on where the Panzer IV was. She ran through the woods, maneuvering over the terrain like a rabbit. Her team members were surprised to see her come back out of breath.

"N-Nishizumi-dono? What's wrong?" Yukari asked as she handed her a canteen of water.

Miho took a quick sip before saying, "They're coming…"

"Who?"

"The ones who attacked us earlier, they've come to finish us off."

"Oh no! What do we do?!" Saori said with distress.

"She's right, our tracks are still busted. The Panzer is not moving anywhere for quite some time…" Hana said.

"Well, it's not like we should just surrender, right?" Yukari laid out to the crew.

"Even then, if they get us first. We'll really only have one shot before we're overwhelmed…" Mako explained. "We're outnumbered five to one."

Miho was thinking as well as the four talked amongst each other. "What do you think, Miho?" Hana asked Miho, snapping her out of her little world.

Miho looked about the girls and the terrain. "We haven't given up before, I don't see why we should be now."

The girls smiled at her response. "That's the type of response I expect from Miporin," Saori said happily while sporting quite a mischievous grin she hasn't shown since laying out to the girls of a plan to snare a boy for herself.

"What's your plan?" Hana asked Miho. Miho's mind raced again.

"The land over the rim is flat. On a good angle, the 75 mm can shoot all the way from one end to another. The distance from here to where the enemy is coming from is almost 400 meters."

"I see. But the foliage covers the entire view from our perspective down here in the hole, and we can't move for a better angle. If I can see a clean shot, I might take it, but not like this..." Hana said, not one to exaggerate her skills. Miho understood, the foliage out there was indeed thick and the Panzer IV's gun optic was just about the same perspective as crawling on waist-high grass field. Not to mention long-distance view is inhibited by the low-lighting.

Miho thought about it. She hurriedly climbed into the Panzer IV in the commander's position and grabbed two red signal flags from a reserve box. While she was at it, she also grabbed an MP40 submachine gun that rested on the turret wall. "You can see above the foliage though, right?" Miho asked Hana.

"Yes!"

"Okay, here's how we're going to do it. You all get into the Panzer IV and prepare it for firing. I'll go out there and spot the tanks for you. I'll wave this flag," Miho showed the bright red flag, "to show their general location. Just look for the bright red flag for the enemy's location!"

"Miho! That's crazy!" Saori cried out loud. Indeed, this was quite a reckless tactic. "Just spot for them from the tank!"

"It's the only way I can give Hana a clean shot at them!" Miho said. "It's too dark here for spotting from one place. The flag will help with target acquisition!"

"Well, if you're going to do it, give me the other flag! I'll do it with you!" Yukari said.

"Yukari?! I need you to load the gun!" Miho insisted.

"I'll load it!" Saori shouted. "Don't you dare do this alone, Miporin!"

"I'll look up on the commander's cupola for the flag as well…" Mako said in her usual tone. "The status of the tracks makes the driving position redundant at the moment."

"Yeah, you also got the best eyesight among us. Spot the red flag for Hana, okay?" Miho ordered.

"Right."

Miho looked at Anglerfish. All of them looked around confidently. Not thinking, but knowing that they've got a solid idea that just might work. "Alright then… Let's do our best, okay?"

"Right!"

Miho gave Yukari the other signal flag, as well as the submachine gun. "I've still got my pistol," Miho reassured as Yukari took it and slung it on her shoulders. "Alright girls… Panzer Vor!"

* * *

"Hmm, it's been awhile since I was here… Saori said inside the Panzer IV turret. ""You think this is going to work?"

"It's a bit late to be asking now, Saori…" Mako said as she stood in the commander's position, her head peering out of the cupola like a crab.

"You know where the shells are, Saori?" Hana asked.

"Yep, there's one here… and another compartment here…"

"Just keep five at the ready," Hana said. "That's all we'll need hopefully."

"This is crazy… almost as bad as fighting the Maus." Saori reiterated the situation.

"But the Maus, we had our friends helping too…" Hana recalled.

"You two speak as if we don't fight alongside friend this whole time…" Mako said.

"We're not just friends," Saori said. "We're practically family now…"

Smiles grew on the girl's faces then. "Quite a way to put it Saori. Get ready, we can't let Miho and Yukari down now with our bantering."

Out there in the field. Miho and Yukari maneuvered in the foliage with their flags under their OD ponchos. Awaiting the incoming enemies, Miho helped Yukari get a crash-course lesson on the terrain.

"Yukari, are you ready for this?" Miho asked her companion.

"Hell, no," Yukari answered honestly. "This plan is still insane no matter how I think about it… and I'm the one who had to sneak into a British base by myself!"

"Just mark their locations. Don't be a hero," Miho said. "And don't stand between the Panzer IV and the British tanks."

"Alright… don't do those stupid things yourself, Nishizumi-dono."

"As long as Hana can knock them out faster than they can realize, we just might be able to survive."

Yukari nodded before a loud snap of wood went through the air. The tanks were coming.

Yukari took a deep breath. "Phew… okay then…"

"Spread out," Miho ordered. "And good luck!"

Miho then left to her own direction while Yukari stuck around. She waited for a tank to come by. In the darkness, it almost was like it popped out of nowhere if not for the automotive noises. A Sherman Firefly, way more intimidating now that it was moving compared to when she saw it in the hangar a few days ago, rolled about on the land, its turret facing away from her as it looked for its target.

"Okay…" Yukari steeled herself. She looked back and saw the area where the Panzer IV was. The Sherman passed by, unnoticing of Yukari laying low on the floor. When it passed by her, she ran closer from its rear, staying low in case of another vehicle in the back watching for any infantry movement.

As the tank moved slowly across the terrain, it leveled out as the hull barely bounced around when the suspension no longer sprung about with the ground.

 _Here goes nothing…_ Yukari resolved and ran to its side. She stuck her arm up and waved the red flag in the air above the foliage.

Back in the Panzer IV, the girls were reacting to this.

"I see something red moving in the distance, towards the 1 o' clock direction," Mako said.

Hana looked down the optics. The foliage taking up about 90% of the view with only a bit of the scenery on the very top. _1 o' clock…_ Hana thought as she traverse the turret slightly. "I think I got it." Hana concentrated her sights. "I see the flag! Alright, got a bead!" Hana went towards the trigger and fired a round. The round flew out with a _CLANG_ as the breech recoiled. Saori got to work on grabbing a shell while Mako took a look at the effect on target. "Nice, the white flag came up."

"Alright!" Saori cheered as she took up a 75 mm round. "Gah, these are heavy!"

Downrange, when the shell came in, Yukari almost had a heart attack when the round abruptly slashed the air and took out the Firefly. _Wow… that's was something…_ Yukari thought of the experience so far.

On the other side of the ravine, Miho stayed low. The cannon blast just now with the reassuring metallic impact meant that one tank was down. _So far so good…_

Miho heard a creak of metal bending nearby and she peeked over a log to see a Firefly reacting to the scenario, the tank was turning towards the direction of Yukari and the blasted tank. Turning away from Miho's path, she ran up closer to it. Crouching by its 7 o' clock location while the Firefly rolled across the terrain, she raised the red flag over the foliage and hoped for the best. About 10 seconds in, a shell blasted that Firefly to deactivation.

"Yes!" Miho temporarily celebrated that before she heard something ripping through the air with a _WHIZ WHIZ_ and a rapid sound of gunfire a distance away towards her direction. She got as low as possible, like a snake, and rolled a distance away from her position. Miho got up slightly and looked at the direction the noise came from. Three M10 Achilles in front of her traveling in an inverted V-formation. The key vehicle in that formation inside was the one in the middle, with a proud flag flying on top of it.

"Jackpot…" Miho said to herself as she maneuvered around the terrain to get a good position to strike from.

* * *

"There's only one enemy tank here, what are you guys doing?!" Emma yelled out into her radio while on the engine deck of her Achilles. So a Panzer IV manage to ambush two Fireflies without any attempt of return fire?!

" _It came out of nowhere! They're tracking us like a-_ "

"Shaddup! You're out! Nothing you can do anyways!" Emma yelled out in her radio before hanging it up. "Watch out for stragglers, I thought I saw someone next to Bernard's Firefly."

"Roger that, Sarge." Her crew shouted out, a benefit of the open-top that allowed for clear communication with the outside. Plus, they had a greater visibility of their terrain, without having to look through vision ports or limited hatches.

Emma took to the top and mounted on the M2 heavy machine gun on the rear of the turrets. If there were infantry out there, they wouldn't want to be on the business end of her personal weapon.

* * *

Yukari saw the incoming tank destroyers, but became fearful when she saw Emma on the M2 Browning gun. She felt the sting of the rubber bullets from a revolver, how would a .50 caliber feel like? Yukari didn't want to think about. Given Emma's stance and confidence on her platform, it wasn't the first time she used the Ma Deuce against soft targets like people.

Yukari gripped her MP40 submachine gun, a pitiful weapon in comparison to the .50, but at least she could move it about easily. She watched the Achilles lumbered about towards the Panzer IV's direction.

She proceeded carefully, watching for any wary eyes peering over the top of the open turrets. Crouching on the ground, she got a bit closer to the tank destroyers, hoping her OD poncho was good enough for camouflage.

Miho had done the same as she warily slipped through logs and bushes to get ahead of the tank destroyers. She looked at the angle between her location, the Panzer IV, and the three Achilles. Confident on her position, she took the chance and raised her red flag.

"Hana, our 2 o' clock," Mako said. The turret soon traversed towards that general direction, the cannon barrel brushing aside the foliage on the rim. Hana looked down the optic closely for the targets.

Miho, still downrange, kept the flag up until she heard shouting behind her. She instinctively ducked before her position was saturated with incoming rounds. Loud cracks ripped the air apart as bullets punctured the forest. Hitting logs and brushes, the rounds send bits of splinters all over her. The fragments rained on her as dust and particles as she crawled out of there.

The Ma Deuce came alive as Emma fired the machine gun at the offending target. She unloaded the rounds onto the area freely.

Yukari saw Emma firing the gun to the other direction. It only took her firing direction to know who Emma was trying to shoot at. _Miho!_

Dashed out of her cover while unfolding her MP40's stock, Yukari ran a distance to the side of the M10s and aligned her sights to the active target. She fired a burst for about a second. Yukari looked out the sight to saw the figure arming the machien gun starting to slump. Still out of cover, she looked around and could see the depression the Panzer IV was at. She then stuck out her red signal flag randomly.

"Hey, what the hell is she doing?!"

"Shoot her!"

 _Crap!_ Yukari ditched the flag and dived as bullets came toward her area. Not the intimidating .50 cal, but sub-calibers like the submachine gun she has. She crawled frantically away as the cadets fired their rubber ammunition at her last known position. Hyped up in their adrenaline, some of the crew were even climbing out of the Achilles to hunt her down. Yukari crawled to the nearest ditch she could find and waited.

With the covering fire off her back, Miho raised her red flag once more.

A short while later, a shell whistled its way onto the left Achilles in the formation. The round cracked on magnificently and, without a question, the M10 Achilles was disabled. The crew on the other two started to react and the turrets were traversing about.

Miho kept the flag raised, higher to make sure the girls didn't miss their mark. Then she felt a sudden, painful sting on her back, the shock coming from her right side near her kidney. The pain came with such a force that Miho could feel her breath pushed right out of her, like she was punched by a brick. She crumbled, the excruciating pain started to overwhelm her.

Yukari heard more firing, and knew that the Panzer IV was doing its work on the Achilles. She heard the crack of branches and leaves as the foot step of the dismounted crew get closer. The steps came closer and closer before Yukari sprung up and mowed the area in the direction of the sound. The two cadets not more than 10 meters from her fell as dust on their clothes flew from where the rounds impacted on them. One screamed while the other only gasped as the kinetic transfer punched the wind out of him.

Yukari got up confident she was safe once more to hear more firing. Not on her, but the slumping figure if Emma had gotten up and was firing a side arm towards the direction Miho was.

 _Persistent Puma!_ Yukari internally screamed as she ran to another position, spraying the MP40 as she did. The shooter suddenly took note of the new source of fire and shifted her aim towards Yukari. The MP40 ran dry at that moment, with the bolt clicking shut and Emma fired her Webley at Yukari. Yukari felt a rather familiar punch on her body and was knocked down. She heard another loud metallic clang on another M10 before she fell to the ground.

The last remaining M10 in the formation was idle between its two disable comrades.

"Hana, you're loaded!" Saori yelled out as she shoved a 75 mm into the gun, out of breath and tired as Hana serviced to the next target.

"There were three, where's the last one, Mako?" Hana asked.

"In between the two you busted," Mako said and Hana focused the gun towards the disabled Achilles. "It's out of our line of sight though…"

"I can see that," Hana said as she took a careful, calculated aim through the foliage and darkness.

Back on the lone Achilles, the crew were reorienting their situation.

"Sarge, are you okay?" Edwards said peeking out the turret rear at his commander staggering on the engine deck.

"Took a few shots…" Emma said as she lifted herself on the counterweights. "But I got those bastards."

"That tank is still out there chewing us up…" Edwards explained, looking cautiously at his surroundings.

"It'll be hard now. We got their spotters, no way they'll be able to trace our loca-"

Suddenly a shell bounced by. At their angle, the Panzer IV has no clean shot towards Emma's Achilles. However, the shell tracer marked its unique path to the target.

The 75 mm shell was aimed at the Achilles to the right of the flag tank. The shot was not aimed at the hull, but at the strange curvature on the underside of the M10 turret. A freak combination of luck, probability, chance, and angling was relied on for this decisive shot. The shell did not imbed itself into the armour, instead bouncing off as it ricocheted to its intended target.

The near 30 degree ricocheting angle of the shell had denied the flag Achilles the cover it wanted between the two disabled Achilles. The round blew right into the right hull side of Emma's Achilles, forcing it slightly to the left. The force threw Emma off her feet and any of the turret crew that were standing. As they tried to regain their balance, it was all over.

Grabbing the turret rear counterweights to hoist herself up, Emma could hear the whir of a small circular hatch opening, and she only watched helplessly as a tiny white flag popped up like a cruel joke.

Stunned silence followed on the battlefield.

* * *

 **East Side of S-point - Quebec, Canada**

As a Comet swung to the side of the Black Prince, gun ready to fire, a siren sounded throughout the battlefield. Darjeeling, surprised by the referee interference, came out of her cupola for better awareness, holding her empty tea cup. She also noticed that the Comet that swung by had also paused and its commander, John Montgomery, came out as well.

"That's the 'match over' siren," Darjeeling recognized the sound.

"Well, I wonder which flag tank got taken out?" Montgomery said curiously.

Darjeeling can't help but feel anxious as well. Miho and her Panzer IV were missing in the second-half of the battle and no one ever identified Monty's flag tank. Like a truce signal, all conflict stopped as the commanders of their tank pop out for the final word of the match. Comets came to idling halt, the Tortoise crew stopped repairing their monster, and Jasmine company stopped midway to their path to assist Sunflower.

A whine of a sound interference from a speaker first sounded, then the announcement.

" _MATCH OVER, MATCH OVER. THE WINNER OF THE SECOND ROUNDS IN THE FIRST BRACKET OF THE 26th WORLD TOURNAMENT EXHIBITION MATCHES IS ŌARAI COMPOUND TEAM FROM JAPAN. CEASE COMBAT. ALL UNITS, CEASE COMBAT IMMEDIATELY."_

* * *

 **This was a very troublesome chapter for me. Because for most of a month I had no idea where to go with it.**

 **You know how Anzio's match was skipped in the original anime? I** _ **feel**_ **like I understand why (although it might be wrong reason), I just couldn't think of a good enough match play between Ōarai and the British cadets to make a concrete chapter.**

 **I was almost tempted to just skip the whole thing as is, but 1) I already started the bloody thing last chapter and 2) It's a disservice to the tanks in British inventory if I did. I mean, the anime and movie only ever showed four British tanks (Churchill, Matilda, Crusader, Centurion) and I'm here laying out around seven! (Archer, Achilles, AEC , Black Prince, DD tank, Tortoise, Comet, Cromwell). So I slugged through it, finding out a good scenario to play this thing out. I think I did pretty good for what amounted for lots of improvisation. The last bit with the Panzer against the five tanks? That really just came up in my mind as I was writing it. Although, that battle scenario I really can't take too much credit for because I was inspired from a scene in the webcomic "Katusha - Girl Soldier of the Great Patriotic War" (check it out, it's pretty interesting so far).**

 **But really, I also wanted to get this whole thing over with so I can get along with the plot! I've been wanting to do the Russians for a long time and I've had lots of time planning for it. Because of that, hopefully the next chapter won't have as much issues as this one.**

 **If there's one thing I did get from the long wait between chapter is that I get a good show of how much support I get from you fantastic readers. I was surprised that this story has gotten itself quite an attentive audience. Seriously, where y'all fine readers coming from?**

 **To finish it up, thank you everyone for all the support! If you want to see what will carry on from here on out, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story! I hope I continue to entertain both you new and old readers!**

 **(And Miho and Yukari are fine btw. Rubber bullets)**

 **Edit 1: Ending was clarified a bit.**


	17. Absence Without Leave

_**Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 17:** **Absence Without Leave**

The cloud was dark, blotting out the sunlight from reaching the Earth. It was raining, but not like the tender one in the forest. It was coarse and rough, with a gale blowing the harsh droplets all over her. The river roared with force and waves, echoing from the canyon below to her left. Between the gale and the rushing rapids, her hearing was numbed to all except that of a petrol engine to her rear.

She gripped her chilled hands, trying to break it from stagnation. She felt a tough structure blocking her movement. She looked down and saw herself in a drum-shaped structure, while she stuck herself up above exposed to the elements. A hatch stuck to her right, locked in place so that it did not sway with the momentum and the wind. Thunder and lightning clashed in the air, the crack clearing through the ambience and boomed into her ears.

Miho's body could feel the rumble of her tank on the thin mountainside road. Her tank, the flag tank with its small red flag flying proudly above the commander's cupola, was given the objective of the destruction of Pravda's fighting force and their flag tank. Her tank, the famous Panzerkpfwagen VI "Tiger I" Ausf. E, rolled along the rocks smoothly with the _Schachtellaufwerk_ torsion bar suspension. The turret and cannon leveled to the front for any enemies encountered in their position. To her front and rear were two Panzer III Ausf. L tanks, assigned as support for the heavier Tiger.

Suddenly, a blast erupted next to the lead Panzer III's right. Then another, larger blast. The force pushed the Panzer III towards the left, careening off the slope. In the rain and mud, the Panzer III had no traction as it slid down the unforgiving slope towards the river below. Miho watched as the Panzer III slipped off the last ledge and fell straight into the rapids. The tank's volume had it stutter a moment above the water, before starting to sink into the dark, murky underworld.

" _No!_ " Miho lept out of her cupola, her legs carrying her down the slope. She did not notice the incoming T-34-85s of Pravda as she slipped and rolled down the rough slope. The rocks scraped and bruised her, but she did not stop and on the ledge, dived straight into the black river. The water, cold and forceful, blew her around as she swam to the sinking Panzer III. Particles in the rushing river smacked into her face, skin, and body. As the turret began to go under, she dived down and reached for the side hatches in the suspension.

She flailed her arms, searching under the darkness for her target. A metal link… she grabbed onto the rough texture as she dragged herself down onto the suspensions. Her hand then gripped onto the large road wheels of the torsion bar suspension. Finally, she reached once more for the rectangular hatch between the tracks and wheels. A solid grip on the metal panel, and she pulled all her might against the water pressure, opening it. She reached in and grabbed felt flesh, and pulled the crew member out.

By the time she got back onto the surface, with the other Panzer III crew members follow suit, it was all over. Miho looked up on the mountainside to see her proud Tiger I now lying with a smoke-covered white-flag on top of the turret. As the Panzer III crew coughed up any water in their system, Miho could only stare at her flag tank… Someone grabbed her on the shoulders… but she did not look back.

"Miho…" The voice said. Koume Akaboshi…

Miho looked back, but it wasn't Koume, and the whole world turned dark.

"S-sister?" Miho looked at her face. Her face that has almost been forgotten after being separated for so long.

But the face… it wasn't the tender one that Miho saw after the end of the 63rd Nationals, the end of the fight against University. It wasn't the stoic one before the conclusion of the nationals as well.

It was pain…

Disappointment...

Heart-break…

Her face contorted between the emotions, but Miho has never seen any of these faces on her sister before. Like an empty blank mask, that image continue to shift among the many as it stared into Miho like a phantom.

"Sister?! What's wrong?" Miho asked as she reached in. Suddenly, the figure lunged at her. The faces transforming to a ghostly scream as it reached into Miho's face. Her grip was deathly, suffocating Miho as a dark fog surrounded them.

Miho's scream was muffled as she felt the hands creeping into her heart.

* * *

 **Quebec, Canada**

"GAAAAHHHHH!"

Hands forced her down, trying to prevent her from struggling.

"Miho!"

"Miporin, snap out of it!"

"Nishizumi!"

Miho flailed, her arms and leg jumped around. She opened her eyes and saw something soothed her. Sunlight. It shone down on her like she had been absent from it for so long. Four obstructions to it laid above her. Miho took a moment and realized they were faces. She was about to jump free before she noted their appearances.

A redhead with shoulder-length hair.

A girl with elbow-length hair with bangs resembling curtains.

A brunette with fluffy, cuddly hair.

A short girl with a white band in her hair, along with one if the plainest expression if the bunch.

"Everyone…?" Miho said in a stunned voice. Her breath panting rapidly.

"Yes, it's us, Miho. You were just dreaming Miho…" Hana said in a calm voice.

Miho looked up and saw the dazzling view of the sky. The clouds were gone and so was the rain. The light glistened through the forest like a sparkling crystal.

"C'mon… get up Miporin, you're getting heavy on my lap…"

"Huh?" Miho jot up and looked back to see Saori. She suddenly felt dizzy and woozy.

"Whoa, take it easy Miho," Hana said as she held Mihi steady. Miho shaked her disorientation out.

"W-what happened to me?" Miho asked.

"You got shot," Yukari said, sitting to Miho's left.

"Shot…? Oh yea- Ow, ow, ow…" Miho felt the pain on her back return on its mention. The shot had knocked her out? "Wow, Yukari… you got shot like this in England?"

"Yeah, but it hurts a lot more this time…" Yukari recalled. "I was wearing a suit that Isabelle gave me though…"

Miho got back up sitting, her back still aching. She then noticed that the platform they were on is moving. "Wha-? Where are we?"

Yukari suddenly beamed as if some story-telling had been growing inside her. "The Panzer IV is being towed out of the forest by a Centurion Armoured Recovery Vehicle! We're on the Panzer now! They're helping us out so that we don't have to completely fix the tracks!"

"A Centurion ARV…? Wait, so the match is…"

"Over", Mako said bluntly.

"We won, Miho," Hana said with a warm smile.

Miho looked with a brief period of disbelief. "Wow, so we really did it, huh?"

"Yep!" Yukari yelped out in affirmative."

"Three cheers for Ōarai!" Saori shouted in glee!

"Yeah!" Anglerfish cried out.

"Will you girls keep it down back there?!" A manly scream came atop the moving Centurion. Miho and the others shirked a bit.

"I'd imagine we'll see a few people in a bad mood once we get back…" Miho said sheeply.

The girls giggled lightly as the stayed on the towed Panzer IV's roof as it was moved out of the forest. Although Miho laid deep in her thoughts on what she had saw.

* * *

"God damn it Miho, you messed everything up!" Montgomery came up like a volcano to Miho and her crew.

As the girls arrived at the rallying center for the match, they saw that they were the last of the Ōarai members to be extracted from the forest. As the rest of the Ōarai team had went and prepare their tanks for the transport out of the forest, Montgomery had the pleasure of being the first to meet the captain of the victorious team.

"I- ah…" Miho stammered as Monty looked at her with the meanest face she's seen on him yet. But the shell broke and Monty broke out with a large grin.

"But bloody hell, that was an _awesome_ match."

The 4 other Anglerfish girls were stunned by Monty's sudden change. Miho, on the other hand, pinched her own hand to make sure she wasn't still dreaming of a emotion-twisting phantom.

As Monty laughed heartily, shaking a few of their hands. A voice called out behind him. "There you are!"

"Isabelle!" Yukari yelled out. "Didja see us there?!"

Isabelle approached, "You girls are the craziest sons of bitches I've ever seen. Seriously, what were you thinking before you fell off the hill?"

"Obviously, they weren't," Monty said. "Your rash, reckless attacks with unpredictableness has made you a dangerous opponent on the battlefield."

"I-I wouldn't put it like that…" Miho tried to explain.

"But it's still stupid."

"S-sorry?" Miho said.

"Don't rely on such moves like that," Montgomery said. "It's okay to be aggressive sometimes, but always know when it is appropriate to retreat. You don't want to end up like a Sixth Army at Stalingrad…"

Miho instinctively thought of her battle against Pravda back during the 63rd Nationals upon hearing "Stalingrad".

"Gah, but what can I do? In the end, the 'Legend' has bested me and my group today." Monty said before muttering to himself, "gah, how am I going to explain this to the officers…"

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Hey Montgomery, where's Emma? I'd like to talk to her," Yukari asked as she looked around. Indeed, Emma was nowhere to be seen around Monty now.

Monty looked back as well, scanning the area. "I'm… not sure. She said she had to do something, but I haven't seen her since. I'm sure she's just busy doing her business."

"Aw, alright," Yukari said, deflated. Miho wondered if Yukari intended to rub the victory in Emma's face, though she doubted that action from the fluffball.

Montgomery and Miho looked at each other once more. "Uh…" Miho wanted to say. "Thank you for everything so far. None of this would've been possible without your help."

"Heh," Montgomery said, but he also looked surprised by Miho's gratitude. "It's a competitive world out there Miho. Anyone could fall out of favor with a drop of a dime."

"But, then why'd you help as much as you did?" Miho asked. The way it was, Montgomery pretty much engineered his downfall by helping Ōarai.

"Well, it'd be even more ungentlemen like to leave my female guests alone in this new world, would it not?" Monty said with a knightly aura around him.

Miho and the girls beamed by Monty's generosity. Even if he shot himself in a foot like this; at least to Miho, it seemed Monty didn't mind any of it at all. Kind of like Daniel Marshall, these two attended Tankery not for any primary goal of glory, but for the fun of it all. The two surely contrasted to Kraus and his school's attitude to Tankery.

"Alright, Sir Arthur, that's enough out of you," Isabelle slugged her arms around his neck. She surely was a tall girl.

"Yes, yes," Monty said as he got out of Isabelle's grip, "you girls and the yank oughta go now. You've got two more matches ahead of you, and I promise they won't be as easy as with me or Marshall."

"Yeah… especially since Russia is still there for the count…" Isabelle said with a rash, hostile tone. Miho wondered why.

"Alright, before my presence cause you all a series of inaction, I will take my leave. Toodles… _Legend_." He turned away with a hand up waving as he walked to wherever his team was.

"I don't know about that name yet…" Miho said openly.

"Really, Miho?" Isabelle said, surprised by Miho's continual rejection of that title. "You led your Panzer IV on a kill streak of nine tanks, and you won't call yourself a 'legend'?"

"I don't know…" Miho said in confused frustration. "It's just not right… And did we really destroy nine tanks?" Miho counted on her fingers, recalling each shot the Panzer IV fired.

"Eight actually," Mako said quickly.

"Still a lot," Isabelle said. "Historically, you'd be a tank ace in just that match."

"Ugh…" Miho groaned. One more tick on her annoying namesake.

"Don't worry about it, Miporin," Saori tried to cheer her up. "Think of the positives on this event!"

"Like what?" Miho asked.

"Uh, well…" Saori didn't expect that response. "Well,maybe you can use your fame to easily get a boy? No… that's not right…"

"It's alright, Saori," Miho said solemnly, about to plant her hand on Saori's shoulder before pausing.

Her paused lasted longer than she thought as she appeared in a suspended state with her hand hovering in the air by Saori. Saori looked a Miho puzzlingly at her stance.

"Miho, are you okay?" Hana asked. Miho blinked hard a few times before relaxing.

"Y-yeah… I think I'm fine," Miho said, but the girls could see she was quite shaken up. "Let's go girls."

* * *

The girls walked a short distance to the train yard, where the tanks were transported here and there from the ports to the match. The Ōarai team had been busy getting the tanks ready for the ride back to the aircraft carrier.

"Alright," Isabelle finally said as they approached the rails, "you girls handle loading the tanks, I need to finish loading the care package."

"Care package?" Yukari asked curiously on the usage of such terminology.

"Few things I asked for since last week. I got it during your match when some of the ACA cadets were able to make it."

"The American cadets were here?" Saori asked Isabelle.

"Yeah. They're gone now though. Though they loved your performance."

"What kinds of things did you ask for?" Hana was also interested on what Isabelle would order for Ōarai.

Isabelle smiled, but her eye trailed to Yukari, "You'll see when we get back to the ship. Now move out, we leave as soon as everything's ready for transport." Isabelle concluded while waving the girls forward.

"Yes ma'am!" Yukari said loudly of the five Anglerfishes. Her steadfastness also urged the girls away to the flatbed cars while Isabelle move on to her own direction.

Their towed Panzer IV had already made it to the loading area of the train yard, which was in the process of being hooked to a crane to move it onto the flatbeds. As the Miho and the others got closer and went within eyesight of the rest of the team, everyone all cheered for their arrival.

"That's our team captain, right there!" Rosehip yelled out loud upon spotting Miho and the Anglerfish girls. The team seemed to roar in applause.

"Good work, Miho!"

"Wooo! Match point!"

The praises and victorious chants came in as Miho was once again struck in awe. "Oh you all…" Miho said, touched by the team spirit.

"C'mon Miho," Anzu said as she stepped right up to Miho. "The train ain't going to wait forever, even for the 'Legend'!"

"Ah…" Miho wanted to say, but she decided to roll with it for now.

"Oh, uh, sorry about that," Anzu said. "Guess your reputation really is getting around, hmm?"

"Not that I enjoy it…" Miho said, "but yeah, it is."

"Well, Miho. We're only a train ride away from celebrating victory back home!" Anzu said cheerfully before turning to the rest of the girls. "So let's get all these tanks up and set for the trip back! C'mon! Get this Panzer IV up that flatbed car!"

"Yes ma'am!" Some of the girls really into the spirit said. Everyone was jolly from their victory against the British 3rd RTR cadets. After their previous defeat by them in the first practice match, they were really on the roll with after beating the Americans and the British.

Miho couldn't help but break into a smile to see the whole team up and cracking again.

"Miho!" A cry came out next to the cars of Shermans being loaded up.

"Kay!" Miho shouted out loud towards the Saunder girls while waving. She headed towards her while the Anglerfish girls handled the Panzer IV's loading process. Miho climbed onto the flat car Kay was on with her M4A3E2 Jumbo. The other Saunder girls were also there nearby, doing their own thing like chewing bubble gum or playing with a paddleball.

"You did good out there, Miho," Kay said. "It was all very exciting!"

"Yeah, it was," Miho recalled how her blood flowed through her during that vital last minutes with Emma's Achilles and Fireflies. "What happened to Dandelion at the time? We couldn't reach you for most of the match…"

"Yeah…it was a really mess up there…" Kay seemed to reminisce on her situation. "We met up a group that decided to come from the North, right? The first engagement was confusing as hell. See, in one intersection, I met Naomi's Firefly and their Firefly in one go."

"Oh my, that's confusing." Miho almost snickered when she remembered the time the Hetzer slammed itself into Kuromorimine's line during the finals of the 63rd Nationals.

Kuromormine…

Miho couldn't help but feel the name gnawing on her brain.

"You okay Miho?" Kay asked. Miho blanked out and she readjusted herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks," Miho reoriented herself. "So how did you sort the situation out?"

"Well… in a way we really didn't…" Kay said seriously. "I think there was some friendly fire in the mix… In the end, we were decimated by 17-pounder fire. Sorry about that, Miho."

"It's alright, Kay. It all turned out okay, right?"

Kay smiled, "Yeah, I guess it did. Can't get too bogged down for a mistake." Her boisterous self came back to maximum as though a weight had been lifted from her spirit. Miho could only smile back with as much enthusiasm as she could pack into it.

"I need to help everyone else finish the loading process, so I'll see you later Kay," Miho bid her farewell to Kay. Kay and the other Saunder girls present waved back as they got to their own business.

As the leaves crinkled under her boots, Miho could feel the moisture and dew in the air. However, a thought continued to linger inside her…

Sister.

Kuromormine.

Sister.

Miho paused in her path as the words circulated her mind. Why? She's thought about the whereabouts of Maho and Kuromorimine for some times now, but now these thoughts came in as pangs. She couldn't shake it. Miho took a few deep breaths before continuing forwards. _It can wait…_ Miho kept thinking to herself. _It can wait…_ There were more urgent needs at hand.

* * *

 **A few hours later - Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

The crane carried the broken down tanks up from the ferries that took them to the Canadian shore. Inside the noisy loading docks of the school carrier, the girls on ship duty organized the offloading of the cargo while the Ōarai Compound team members headed their way up to the deck.

The efficiency of the ship girls with the different machinery present on board was impeccable. Before long, the first of the tanks were already on the deck, carried up by the large elevators present on the carrier design.

The Black Prince, Churchill , BT-42, KV-1, StuG III, Hetzer, and Char B1 made their way back to the tank garage under their own power. With the exception of the BT-42, KV-1, and the Char B1, the tanks helped tow a disabled tank towards the tank tanks were also carried back on truck trailers. Another series of linking, unlinking, loading, and unloading took place as the tanks were all finally put to their place in the tank garages.

Among the cargo of parts and the such, Miho noted a large wooden box almost her height that was riding next to the Panzer IV on its truck trailer. _The care package_? Miho thought, it was the only peculiar and new package compared to what they left with in the morning. By the time the girls finished unloading everything, the sun had settled and only a brief orange hue existed on the horizon.

Miho looked at the tanks that were still running compared to those that were obliterated. The casualty rates still coincided with the nationals, but if this keeps up… Miho was thinking along that line before someone came up and five-starred her in the back. Kay stood above her on her left smiling, trying to cheer up the team captain. "Looks like everything is in order cap'n!" Kay said with a cheerful tone. Miho didn't know what else to say other than agree.

"Uh...Yep. Everything is accounted for."

"Hey Isabelle! We good over here?!" Kay turned her attention over to the American vice-commander, who helped with the unloading process along with the rest of the girls that came with her. As she passed by, Kay seemed to grab her closer with her right arm into a small group huddle.

"Wha- wha?" Isabelle, almost taken off balance by Kay's urging, tried to comprehend her situation. "Uh, yeah. All the tanks are back, and so are the crew…"

"Great!" Kay now grabbed around the two girls on her side and hugged them. Her arms, with only one wrapped around each girl, squeezed the two with a strength the two never accounted for. Isabelle managed to free a space for herself while Miho struggled. "After we brush up the tanks, set them up ready for the motor pool; let's all take a nice, victorious soak in the bath!" Kay shouted with continue glee.

All the girls in the room cheered at that notion.

"Wait, what?" Isabelle objected as she freed herself from Kay's grasp.

"What's wrong?" Kay asked the hesitant American on that.

"When you say bath, you mean as in… altogether?" Isabelle questioned.

"Yeah, duh, don't you do that?"

"Uh, Kay," Miho felt like she needed to remind the Saunders girl. "She's American, remember?"

"Yeah? And?" Kay rather innocuously let that information fly over her.

"And we're Japanese…"

"...Oh!" Kay suddenly beamed like a lightbulb. "Hehehe, right…" She rubbed her head bashfully as she turned to Isabelle. "You Americans don't like to bath with one another, or rather, you don't like to get naked with others."

"No, we don't," Isabelle reaffirmed, crossing her arms in a stern stance.

As Kay talked loudly and proudly near the blunt and quiet Isabelle, Miho wondered which of the two was more "American".

* * *

 _Honestly, that girl never shuts up_ … Isabelle thought to herself as she walked through the tank garages. The rest of the girls, except some of the motor pool personnel, had already left for the nearest bath house.

The Japanese culture had been… quite interesting to Isabelle during their stay since she and her comrades volunteered to assist Ōarai. She only read bits by bits of Japanese culture from mangas and stories that U.S. soldiers stationed in Japan say about the country. Her experience on Ōarai alone had proven a lot of the stories of the Japanese lifestyle and culture. Some were plain weird, like the public baths. Other were quite revolutionary, like vending machines holding cold sodas and hot coffees. How convenient was it that a few yen coins could buy a can of coffee? The architecture was also soothing to look at compared to the rough city buildings and run down rural areas back home.

 _And then we have the tank garages…_ Isabelle summed up perhaps the biggest difference between her envisioned Japanese lifestyle to what was present. Really, the large military-like structures and field present contrasted with everything demonstrated by the suburban environment of Ōarai Girls High School Carrier.

As she walked around in thoughts, the whir of machinery and twists of bolts echoed within the garage as the girls fixed up their tanks. The other's school's tanks have their own motor pools working on their downed vehicles. On the Ōarai tanks, there were four girls in yellow mechanic uniforms working away at their rare VK 4501 (P). Very dedicated girls, Isabelle wished some of the men in the Cadet Armours were as enthusiastic as they were. Was this a cultural thing too? Sensha-Dou was a lot different than what Tankery provided.

Still, the difference in Asian and Western culture was a big one, a gap that would be hard to overcome.

"I'd like to keep my body to myself, thank you very much."

"Did you say something?" a girl with dark complexion, or tanned skin, asked the absently-minding Isabelle. Her mechanic top part was rolled down with the sleeves wrapped around her waist, showing off a white sleeveless shirt on top.

"Oh no, don't mind me," Isabelle extricated herself out of that situation. She continued walking by the Ōarai tanks, interested by the personification the Ōarai girls had given them. The M3 Lee with a pink rabbit dual-wielding knives was cute, even if someone back in the cadets would have a hernia over such an "unnecessary addition". Then there was the Type 3 Chi-Nu, a rare tank to see even with their reproduction in Tankery and Sensha-dou. The anteater pasted on the turret side doing a ribbon dance was by far one of the most absurd decoration Isabelle had seen someone put on the vehicle, and she's saw some of the Air Force people with their blinged out A-10 Warthogs.

Then there was the pride of Ōarai, the Panzer IV. Though she noted the Marshall's care package next to the tank, the Panzer IV was quite a breathtaking vehicle with elements of antiquity and robustness. It's got quite an unusual paint coat of just simply brown paint on top. Usually, the Germans tank would use the yellow _Dunkelgelb_ coat with green or red-brown coloring as camouflage. To go so simple as…

 _ **THUNK**_

The sound erupted from the Panzer IV, surprising Isabelle to turn a head towards it. _Do they have a cat or something?_ Isabelle first thought, but realized a feline wouldn't have been able to make such a noise even by accident. She looked over at the maintenance crew working on the Tiger (P) and see they haven't changed their focus. _Maybe I'm just hearing stuff no-_

 _CLUNK-dunk_

Now Isabelle positively looked at the German Panzer with suspicion. Something was inside and Isabelle was determined to find out what. In the case it was a baby bear ready to maul anyone who dared opened the tank, Isabelle went to an end of the garage and took a "Little Joe", a large wrench intended to assist in track tensioning of M3 chassis vehicles like the M3, M4 mediums and their derivatives like the M10. Taking the large wrench that could double as a club in her hands, she walked over to the questionable Panzer IV, the mechanic crew now curious on what on Earth the American was doing.

She then took up "Little Joe" with two hands and swung it at the front side of the Panzer IV, a loud metallic _CLANG_ echoed in the garage

 _GAH!_

"Come on out!" Isabelle yelled out loud as she held the wrench in a baseball bat style in case. _God, I wish I had my .45 pistol right now_.

The driver's hatch opened up slowly with a creak. "With your hands up!" Isabelle added that notion just in case. Soon two hands popped out first, then the sleeves which showed a woodland camouflage uniform, then the unique duo hair-color of blonde and pure brunette, then the intruder's face.

 _I guess I wasn't entirely wrong on the cat thing_ , was the first thought that crossed Isabelle's mind. "Puma?" She asked for confirmation on what she was seeing.

The figure, now sitting on the rim of the driver's hatch on the hull roof with her two hands still hanging in the air, let out a small laugh. "Hey Isabelle, what's up? Fancy seeing you here."

* * *

After Miho and the girls left the bath, they thought they were going to go home until they got a call from Isabelle. Well, five missed calls as they only found out when they got out of the bath.

So Anglerfish and the student council went back to the tank garage to meet their new guest.

"Emma?" Yukari was the first to say anything upon seeing the British vice-commander stared down onto a chair by Isabelle, who was on a call with someone.

"Hello Yukari, how's your wounds?" Emma asked the Ōarai agent.

"Uh, they're fine. They don't hurt anymore."

"Good, because I wanna give you a new definition of-" As Emma got up from her chair, a quick movement by Isabelle and her legs kicked her back down. Emma could only react with an annoyed face.

"What's going on here?" Miho asked, more towards Isabelle.

"Miho, hold her here for a moment, would you? I'm almost done with this call," Isabelle asked. Miho agreed as she and Yukari moved closer to Emma's chair while Isabelle stepped aside for a moment.

"How'd you get here?" Miho asked.

"Stowed away on your Panzer IV," Emma explained, "somehow."

"Somehow?"

"Look, even I'm not too sure what I was doing, a'ight?" Emma admitted.

Whatever happened in the thought process surely was not as rational as it was interpreted if that meant _sneak-up-inside-enemy-base-via-their-tanks._

"Are you here to scout on us? A bit late for that…" Momo asked the British agent.

"And so?" Emma replied. "What? You expect me to talk?"

"No..." Yukari and Miho said.

There was a pause between the girls, only broken by Emma's heavy sigh. "Y'know, you could've gone somewhere with that," she said eyeing Yukari.

"What?" Yukari asked.

"Ever watched Goldfinger?"

"Okay, okay, so you two are getting along, that's great," Anzu got into the two.

However, Emma snapped back. "Getting along? Us? Oh no, this girl and I still got blood to spill!"

Yukari took a step back from Emma. "Uh, like what?" She said with honest ignorance.

"What'd she do to you?" Saori asked.

"Humiliated me back in the base, and now you all beat us at Canada…" Emma listed.

"Your team lost at Quebec fair and square," Momo refuted. "Miho and her team knocked out your flag tank, that simple."

Emma recollected her thoughts, "Then it's just with you, Yukari!"

"Can't we just take those shots you hit me with in the match and call it even?" Yukari tried to compromise.

"No, no, no. Not after what you did to me."

"What did I even do?!" Yukari now did not understood Emma's rage.

"Give me back those photos!"

The room seemed to go silent with those words. "What photos?" Miho asked meekly compared to the tension.

"Gah!" Emma roared with frustration as she got up. However, just as before, she was kicked back down by Isabelle, who had just returned from her call.

"Sorry about that, had a call with Montgomery about Emma's situation," Isabelle explained to Miho.

"I was wondering about that," Miho said, expecting some response by Montgomery for Emma's unauthorized presence on the Ōarai school carrier.

"Oh yeah, what'd he going to do about me?" Emma asked with defiance. "Put me on AWOL?"

"Oh, even better," Isabelle seemed to savor the words she was about to say. "Since there is no applicable way to retrieve you at this time, he's assigned you to advisor duty with a foreign school to help them out with Tankery."

Emma blinked for a moment at Isabelle, then glanced at the Ōarai team to her left, then back to Isabelle with a finger pointing to Ōarai. "With them?" She asked.

"Yes," Isabelle clarified, "in an advisor duty under _my_ command for Ōarai."

Emma seemed to be in disbelief as she alternated between Isabelle and Ōarai. She sighed heavily before getting up. "Welp, that's just fantastic, isn't it?"

"Say for yourself," Isabelle said to Emma.

"So will Emma be staying with us until the end?" Miho asked tenderly to the two girls who looked like they were ready to clash.

"Yes, she is."

"No, I wo-"

"Okay then, tell me how you plan to get back home?" Isabelle asked Emma.

Emma grew silent as she pondered. She thought for a while before relenting, "Fine, I'll stay and help out."

"Well, then welcome aboard!" Miho reached in with a hand. Emma stared at it for a second before shaking it.

"Emma will stay where the rest of my team and I are residing," Isabelle said. "We'll think of some things to do tomorrow while the tanks get fixed."

"Understood!" Miho agreed along with it. "Tomorrow will probably be back to normal for us. School then practice for the next match, right prez?"

"Yep!" Anzu said brightly. "I'll let you all know where the next match is as soon as I get it."

"Okay!" Miho said, confident that everything was settled. "It's getting late though, so we should retire for the night…"

"Yeah…" Mako said, yawning heavily, "Why am I even still awake now?"

"C'mon Mako, live a little…" Saori said, catching the slumping girl.

"Alrighty then," Anzu said. "I hope to see you all do your best tomorrow, okay?"

"Right!" Anglerfish crew agreed.

"Alright, dismissed!" Anzu said as the girls all dispersed to their own path. Anglerfish went their own direction back home as the student council and the foreigners went to their own residences.

"Hey Yukari?" Miho called for her friend.

"Yeah Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari replied.

"What did Emma mean by 'photos'?"

Yukari was silent.

"Yukari?"

"Oh, hehehe, uh, it's a small thing we have together when I saw her at Britain. Classified stuff, heheheh…" Yukari bumped it off with that response.

Miho looked at Yukari strangely before conceding. "Okay…" A private matter, perhaps?

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

"Mmm…" Miho couldn't sleep. She was restless, tossing and turning as she laid on the bed. Even past midnight, she couldn't feel that hook to be drawn into dream world. When she felt comfortable, she suddenly became hot. When she got out of the blanket, some wrinkle on her clothes prodded on her skin. After a rough rolling around, she didn't feel any better at all.

She looked at her room sleepily, yet awake with alert. The day ended after a long and hard battle against the British, and she felt exhaustedly awake. She wanted to sleep, but her body wasn't letting her. She sighed heavily before conceding to her body's wishes, getting up from her bed at the time setting of one in the morning.

A quick trip to the kitchen and back with a warm cup of milk, she went to her desk and opened her laptop. The white light beamed brightly in the room and she turned on a nearby lamp to dissuade the complete contrast of lighting between the laptop and the room. She checked her school email first, the daily newsletter from the morning already was still there, not opened by Miho. Above it, Miho found a new email unopened by Anzu, but the sender was the International League. Opening it up to reveal Anzu had CC'ed Miho to future messages from the League, Miho read the contents.

The layout of the message was the format of a newsletter, important news in the middle with smaller bits of information on the right. In the middle, Miho saw exactly what she expected.

" **LEGEND" DEFEATS BRITISH CADETS IN STUNNING MATCH IN THE SECOND ROUNDS**.

"Ugh…" Miho rubbed her forehead. That name was never leaving her at this rate. She thought about forfeiting and getting that title over with, but she slapped some sense into her to remove the clouded judgement.

The article read under the title the circumstances of the match, what happened on all fronts of the battle. Miho was indeed intrigued at this part as on the field, she felt she didn't get a good idea on what was going on either. Soon, she read to the end, which read:

 _Next match tomorrow will be_ _the Suvorov Military School from Russia against Hamina Armored Institution from Finland. Location of the match between Ōarai and the winner of that round will be in Europe. Precise location will be announced at the conclusion of tomorrow's match._

 _Europe, hmm?_ Miho noted. With that information, she would not be surprised if the carrier set sailed before dawn. At the rate these ships can go, they'll be in the Europe continent within three days.

Miho finished reading the small newsletter given. It was rather simple, with no other extraneous information aside from the match just yesterday. There were no links to any official pages or network, no media links suggesting sponsorship, no social media, nothing. Very simple in format. _How exactly does this League run?_ Miho wondered.

Finishing that, she now had nothing else on her school email. She went to her personal one and found little more than advertisements and junk mail which she hastily sent to the spam folder. An uneventful search on the internet.

She opened her own social media page and see if there were any updates. Friends posting their own stuff like Rabbit team watching that tank movie that came out a few years ago, Hippo team dressing up in their historical persona in front of their StuG, Mallard posting notice as the Morals Committee reassuring students and residents that the firearms wielded by the Ōarai Security Force were not lethal and the risks presented were no worse than that of Sensha-Dou matches.

Small tidbits of her friends and acquaintances show up. She noticed an absence and went to her "family" bar and searched for an individual.

 _Maho Nishizumi_

Maho never did use social media to the same degree as Miho did, but she created one to keep in contact with her younger sister. A back-up just in case. Miho looked at the page updates. It was very simple, many of the personality traits are still blank as Maho never bothered to fill them out except her family section, of which Miho was under.

Miho smiled at this sign, but then noted that the page hasn't been through much. With very little updates, it is a poor way to show if Maho was still active out there. But it was the last alternative way to contact her bigger sister, her calls and messages are still not being replied too. With desperation sweeping over, Miho typed down on the site's messaging service:

 _Hello big sister, it's me Miho. Where are you? Why are you not picking up your phone?_

Miho read the message in her mind repeatedly, making sure the simple message had the idea conveyed in the way she wanted. After reading it for the fifth time, she clicked [Enter] and the message was sent.

Despite that, Miho knew deep inside that the message may never be seen.

* * *

The next day rose like a beam of light into Miho's room, sapping all the energy from the land.

Miho groggily rose from her bed, after managing to fall asleep, and got ready for school. Leaving her apartment, she reached all the way outside in front of the pastry store before she heard a familiar call.

"Good morning, Miporin!" Saori shouted from down a block behind her. Hana and Mako were also there. The only thing peculiar about this bunch was Mako was walking on her own two legs this morning.

"G-Good morning, Saori, Hana, M-mako," Miho said almost slurring.

"Are you okay, Miho?" Hana asked. "You don't look very well."

"I didn't sleep that well last night," Miho told the girls. "It's really messing with my mind."

"Well, maybe THIS will wake you up!" Saori said, opening her school bag to take out a large, wrinkled, bunch of paper. Miho saw the text and then recognized it as a newspaper. Saori unfolded the chunck of articles and showed Miho the very front page.

 **ŌARAI GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL WINS AGAINST BRITISH CADETS IN WORLD TOURNAMENT! MOVES ON TO THE NEXT STAGE!**

"Oh, um… oh boy," Miho said to the bolded title.

"We're on the front pages! Again!" Saori said proudly.

"Probably the only time we'll ever get that much attention," Mako said. Miho simply chuckled at that notion.

"You know, it's curious how our paper never uses your, well, 'title' that everyone else uses," Hana pointed out.

"Hmm? Now that you mention it…" Miho took the paper from Saori. She read bits of the article under the front page header. "Yeah, they use my name only, but no reference to any 'Legend'."

"You'd probably want it this way, don't you?" Mako asked.

Miho looked at the paper, then back at her friends, "Yeah… let's just keep it like this."

The other girls agreed as Saori snatched back her papers and the girls walk towards school, just like another regular day.

* * *

"Good afternoon Nishizu-oomph!" Yukari does her usual antics to the girls as they were heading to the tank garages.

"S-sorry, Yukari! Again!" Miho said to Yukari, who she had hit when turning to react to a threat, only for Miho's elbow to meet Yukari's gut.

"Haha, I'm fine…" Yukari said as she got back up. "Good afternoon, Nishizumi-dono! Everyone!"

"Good afternoon, Yukari," the responses came. Miho was glad to see Yukari still as lively as ever.

The whole school was lively as a matter of fact. The school girls all around were talking about Ōarai's victory in the world tournament. It made an exciting buzz in the school atmosphere, spirit and morale was at an all-time high. Posters and banners were hanged up, just like the time in the nationals, to show the school's support for the Ōarai Compound Team. It wasn't as festive as the like of Anzio or Saunders, but it showcased Ōarai's unique spirit as a public school.

"Do you think our tanks will all be ready by now?" Yukari asked of Miho and the girls.

"Leopon's been working hard to make sure they're back in working order…" Miho said, "but I wouldn't be surprised if a few were still broken down. We sustained nearly 75% casualties yesterday."

"Even if we they weren't, would we need them so fast?" Saori asked. "I think we got this in the bag! Everyone's stunned by our performance! A day's break can't hurt anyone, could it?"

"I don't know…" Miho said, apprehensive.

"What do you mean, Miho?" Hana asked.

"Well, back when I talked with Daniel in America. He made it seem like we've seen nothing yet, that Tankery doesn't get as intense as those practiced by Russia and Germany."

"Well, Pravda and Kuromormine back in the nationals were kind of like that too, hmm?" Saori remembered. "If you're there to lead us Miho, I'm sure we'll be in tip-top shape!"

Miho still worried, but her teammate's confidence in her added faith and weight onto her back. The American Cadet Alliance and the British 3rd Royal Tank Regiment cadets were very powerful in terms of Sensha-dou standards. Unique tanks, large guns, how much worse can it get from that? Miho wondered that all the way to the tank garage.

The sun was up and shining above the field as the girls gathered around the garage, their enthusiastic chattering could be heard all the way to the school buildings that the Anglerfish girls came out of. "Everyone's so lively now," Hana said.

"Yeah," Miho commented. Best to capitalize on this new found spirit now than later.

As they walked towards the field, a figure jumped out at them from behind a bush. "Miho Nishizumi!~!" The cry went as the person glomped Miho, two large pigtails waved into her face… Grey hair with a hue.

"A-Anchovy!?" Miho exclaimed surprise as the figure now seemed to shake her.

"Where are your snacks?! Where are your stalls?!" A frantic captain of the Anzio Sensha-dou team cried out in front of Miho.

"Yeah!" Another voice cried out as she rushed Miho, this one with short spikey black hair. "Where are all the snacks!?"

"...huh?" Miho said dumbfounded to the two Anzio students. "What snacks?"

"Food! Stalls! Pasta!" Anchovy explained, standing up and facing Miho right into her eyes. "You're having a festival right now, right?! Where's all the food?!"

"Food!"

"Uuhh… Anchovy, Pepperoni; there isn't a festival right now." Yukari said, somewhat familiar of Anzio's lifestyle.

"Then what's with all the banners?! The cheering?! The 'Go Win!' morale boosting posters for us?"

"That's… just them cheering us up… it's a school spirit thing."

Pepperoni's legs seemed to wobble and she collapsed while Anchovy seemed to be on the verge of following suit. "So… no pasta?"

"No pasta," Mako reiterate.

Anchovy and Pepperoni seemed to be on a verge of tears before someone yelled "Oi! Catch!"

Two items flew over Anglerfish, but the Anzio students quickly reacted like they were on springboards and caught the items. "It's not pasta, but its food!"

Miho and the girls took a moment to realize those food pieces were burgers.

"You five want some too?" Kay said with hints of light chewing in her voice.

"N-no thanks Kay," Miho said quickly while turning to look at the Saunders captain.

"Ready for another day at the tank range?!" Kay said very enthusiastically as the two voracious girls downed their burgers like no tomorrow.

"Just like any other day!" Yukari yelled out with nearly the same tone as Kay.

The girls made their way to the tank garages. The two garages have their doors wide open and the tanks inside looking almost new. However a few tanks from Saunders and Chi-Ha-Tan were still under repairs, part of a larger queue due to the annihilation of Dandelion team yesterday.

The girls had all gathered in the open area in front of the garages just like any normal day before practice, the large crowd now chattering eagerly among each other about their prospect in the tournament. No more fear now, everyone wants to fight the next enemy. Soon, the student council and the few instructors available stood in front of the main tank garage that held most of Ōarai's tanks. The instructors, Ami, Isabelle, Helena, and Kyline all stood in a line, with a new addition of Isabelle in the mix, though she looked less energetic and disciplined than the others.

"Listen up, everyone!" Momo yelled out on top of her lungs over everybody. The large crowd of more than 150 students were soon at attention. "We beat two schools already, but we can't let our guard down now! We're heading to the semi-finals, and the enemy there will be more ferocious than anything we've fought before!"

"We'll fight as hard as we had against those Brits!" Someone in the crowd said.

"Against the British cadets yesterday, it showed that we still have a lot to work on with communication between distant units! Victory can't come without teamwork! Focus all your efforts in coordinating efforts against the enemy!"

"You use the same word twice there, Momo," Yuzu pointed out casually.

"Don't undermine me!" Momo cut back, "We can't lose ourselves in the fogs of war like last time! Even if this is all just an exhibition match, who says we can't give it our all?! Right?!"

"Right!" Some of the more eager girls in the crowd said in unison.

"We're quite fired up, aren't we?" Hana commented. Around them, the aura of the large group making up Ōarai Compound Team was ecstatic and energetic.

"Let's hope so!" Miho said with a smile.

"Alright! Get to your tanks! Training assignments will be assigned by squads!" Momo said at last, and without a pause between her previous statement, "What are you all standing around for?! Get moving!"

"Right!" The girls dispersed towards their tanks.

"Well, let's go, Miporin!" Saori said, riding the wave of energy with everyone else.

Miho nodded as the girls made it to their beloved Panzer IV. The instructors were also dispersing as they headed to their stations or prepare for training methods for the compound team.

As Anglerfish made it to their tank and began to climb their Panzer IV, Miho heard Isabelle say, "Shit, almost forgot about that!"

Miho looked back and saw Isabelle and the other instructors except Ami moving towards her Panzer IV.

"Is there something wrong?" Miho asked the girls.

"Oh no, forgot about that," Isabelle pointed at the large wooden box next to the Panzer IV.

"What's that?" Miho asked, recognizing it as the mysterious wooden box she saw yesterday.

"It's the care package from Marshall and the others. I was going to open it last night, but _something..._ ," Isabelle said with an accent as she leaned towards Emma, "...came up."

"Well, excuuuse me, Princess!" Emma retorted.

Now Miho was curious on what Isabelle had brought on board Ōarai. She gestured towards Helena and Kyline for help as she brought out a crowbar. She dug in a flat end into the space between the box cover and body. She pulled, prying the wood pieces apart and a splitting _CRACK_ as the box cover propped off away from the nails. Isabelle then propped the box cover open on the wall as she and the others looked inside. Isabelle on the left side of the box and pulled out a black, ribbed plastic box that looked nigh-unbreakable.

"Wha-" Emma started.

"Classified," Isabelle instantly said as she put the first box down on the concrete floor. She reached in and grabbed two more larger boxes of the same type.

"Oh that's a load of bollocks," Emma only said as she watched the Americans unload their stuff.

Helena helped Isabelle unload her boxes, some heavier than the others. Kyline was on the right, struggling to remove a small wooden panel that was covering sector. Removing it revealed an olive green tarp underneath, which which she removed as well. She looked at the content inside and stared. "Holy shit, sarge."

"What?"

"Check this out!" Kyline reached inside the box, some clattering of wood came as she lifted a formidable, long piece of hardware, dusting off the metallic pieces on it.

"No way!" Isabelle said in disbelief as she placed her black box down and scampered towards Kyline, taking the piece of machinery into her hand while Kyline took out another one in the box. Helena also came up excited.

"Are those from the CMP?!" Helena shouted as she came up excitingly to the girls.

"Hell yeah! Modified for us truly!" Kyline shouted as she pulled on a protrusion on the facing to the right from the piece. The piece clacked back with a sound just like that of a MP40.

"M1 Garands!?" Yukari finally said, sticking her head out of the loader's hatch on the Panzer IV. The girls with the "greatest implement of battle ever devised" were in their own world as they inspected their fine pieces of engineering.

Kyline reached in and grabbed a few more out before reaching down once more and coming up empty-handed. Her look of disappointment brought the attention of the other two. "Only five?"

"Only the three of us are fully trained on this firearm, Kyline," Isabelle said. "The others are just spares. I won't be surprised if there's only two boxes of .30-06 ammunition as well."

Kyline reached down the box once more and brought up two OD green boxes, the texts written in blue rather than the more common yellow to indicate the usage of non-lethal rounds. "Son of a bitch," Kyline said as she looked at the ammunition load, as if quite dejected she can't go wild on the M1 Garand's firepower.

Despite their training schedule, Anglerfish and the crew around them, Rabbit and Hippo, had became curious at the American's new gifts. "Anything for us?" Aya said, as if expecting a souvenir.

"Hmm?" Kyline took notice as she was inspecting the ammunition, "eh, what the heck." She tossed something towards the second-years. They missed it and it fell down onto the concrete with a very noisy _PING_. "That's it though."

The girls picked up the black rectangular u-shaped piece of metal. Their excited tone of voice and chattering overshadowed Helena as she picked up a large metallic piece of hardware, full metal with no wood at all.

"Hey, a grease gun!" Yukari was the first to react.

"Yep, the M3A1 submachine gun," Helena explained it as she inspected the interior by pulling the bolt. "Heard some of the Abrams tankers used this until the M4 carbine came about. Wanna hold it?"

Yukari nodded as Helena handed the empty M3 Grease to the enthusiastic girl. Yukari weighed it, feeling it was lighter than the MP40 the girls carried around in their Panzer IV. Helena reached down and pulled out one more M3, but she looked solemn. "Only two?"

"Yeah, the second one's a spare," Isabelle said.

"You only asked for one? For what?"

"Extracurricular activities," Isabelle simply said, "Give it here."

Helena shrugged as she tossed the M3 towards her commander. Kyline and Helena continued to unload small miscellaneous stuff from the box, ammunition and the such. Kyline also picked up a piece of gear with large pouches on them, only three.

"Is the box just for you three?" Miho asked. Such a large box for the three Americans here."

"I admit, I only had us in mind when I placed the request. Made shipping easier," Isabelle told Miho. "Hey Yukari, you free later this afternoon?"

"M-maybe, why?" Yukari asked.

"I want to go over some personalized training for you for your next mission," Isabelle said. "If you'll be permitted that is."

Yukari looked at Miho, who understood what Isabelle meant by the mission. Miho worried about Yukari's safety in the hands of Isabelle, but now that they were all aware of what was expected, it was better to take the proper steps for the operation than to just drop her in like last time. "That's fine, Yukari," Miho gave her approval with a nod to Yukari, who brightened up with that.

"I'll be sure to give you a replacement for the position, Miho," Isabelle said, but Miho didn't worry about it.

Emma was tinkering about with one of the spare M1 garands when Isabelle put her hand onto the English's shoulder. "You too."

"What?" Emma said, lost in the situation.

"At 1500, rally by the firing range on me," Isabelle said facing Yukari and Emma, full of hand gestures. "Until then, as you were. Emma, with me."

Isabelle then hooked a sling around the M1 Garand, whipped it around her shoulder and walked away to her own business. Emma stook around staring at Yukari, who looked meekly back. "Emma! With me!" Isabelle shouted once more outside the garage before Emma followed.

"You need to settle your thing with that girl, whatever it is…" Saori said, feeling the aura the British girl was placing onto them.

"She's very different than how she was when we first met, huh?"

"Yeah…" Yukari replied. "She seemed friendly at first."

"Maybe we just didn't get to know her whole self…" Miho said, "we still might not know."

"You should see some of the boys I've met," Saori said, "Like there's this one who acted nice, but he's really a-"

"I really don't need that story repeated, Saori," Mako said loud enough from her driver's position. Mako then turned the engine on the Panzer IV on and the start-up noise drowned out Saori's objection.

"We spent too long on this…" Miho agreed as she looked at the time. "Alright girls, mount up!" She said towards the dismounted Rabbit and Hippo team while Helena and Kyline were managing the care package contents. They all proceeded their own paths. The garage was soon alive with engine noise as idle tanks had their engine turned on following Anglerfish. The crew got back to their position, Yukari handing back the Grease gun to one of the Americans as she climbed back into her position, then closing the hatch on the turret side.

"Alright," Miho said as she put on her comms and radio, "Panzer Vor!"

* * *

Practice out on the Ōarai field proceeded along well. As Momo had mentioned, training focused on long-range communication and coordination. The large Ōarai field provided ample opportunities for company and squad commanders to try to analyze movement of positions of friendly units on a map based only on radio transmissions, while the maneuvering units must be able to transmit information clearly so their commanders could interpret it.

Miho, as the team commander, stayed back near the garages on the first set of training exercises and listened into the multiple transmissions while reading the map inside the Panzer IV. On it, with pencils, she marked the movements of Jasmine, Dandelion, and Sunflower.

Once in awhile, when she looked around, she could see Isabelle and Emma walking together, almost touring the area. Both were pointing a lot at the different areas, from the garages to the fields to even the specific geographics on the Ōarai tank field. _I wonder what they're doing…_ Miho thought every time she saw them pointing around. Almost like they were surveying the area.

Break was announced at 1:30 and the most of the girls made it back to the garage area, with only a few alternating off with girls whose tanks are still broken down and being fixed. They moved back out to the field to hone their skills, but the ones resting had their own leisure time.

Miho got out of her tank. "Fwah!" she breathed in fresh air outside the tank's interior, then patting herself down from the dust that's accumulated on her clothes and hair. She climbed out of her tank and decided to check on the others.

Some girls played around on their break, like Duck team with their volleyball, Hippo with Shogi, Anteater with their portable consoles, and Mallard with maintaining order. She could see all the other school's pass time as well, some of Saunders broke out some cards, some from St. Gloriana just finished heating up water from a kettle for their tea time, Anzio broke out a couple of canned pasta, Continuation were messing around with their tanks, Chi-Ha-Tan chanted their battle cries, Pravda girls were singing songs with vigor, and Kuromormine was…

Oh yeah… Kuromormine is not here…

Miho felt her motivation just drain away on that note, suddenly lethargic to continue. She leaned aside to get her mind straight before continuing on.

"Miho? Is something wrong?" A voice said above her. She looked up to see Kay sticking her head from on top of the wall she was at.

"Oh- hi, Kay…" Miho said.

"What're you doing down there?"

"Resting a bit… what are you doing up there?"

"This is my tank."

Miho looked at the "wall" she was leaning on and found it was metal and OD green. The color of the sides of a M4A3E2 Jumbo. "O-oh…"

"Miho," Kay climbed out of her cupola and dropped down next to her. "If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here, y'know? We all are." Kay said while waving her hand, gesturing to everyone resting on the field right now. "So don't be afraid to talk when you want to."

Miho looked at Kay's concern very thoughtfully, "Thanks, but… I think I'll be fine."

Kay looked at Miho with some concern, "Like I said, we're here for you, okay? We'll always be."

Miho did get her mind clearer and said her farewells to Kay as she moved on to the next person.

"Miho, would you like a cup of tea?" Darjeeling said as Miho came up to the mini-table St. Gloriana had set up next to the Black Prince. The crew of the Black Prince and Churchill had settled down to drink. "Sage is good for keeping the mind at peace."

Miho smiled at the gesture. "No thank you, Darjeeling."

"You seem to be stressed out," Orange Pekoe said, looking at Miho.

"I am?" Miho said, feigning ignorance.

"You should take the rest of the day off," Assam then said. "Prolonged exposure to combat does do things to a person's mind.

"Isn't that only for PTSD? I don't think it is that bad, Tankery isn't that different from Sensha-Dou."

"I'm not referring only to the matches though," Assam finished, "it could be cumulative from all the years you've been at it in Sensha-dou now."

Miho thought back on it. True, she's been practicing Sensha-dou for a long time now. Officially getting into it since middle school. Ever since then, every year she had been in the battlegrounds of Sensha-dou. But she's never felt like this before.

Miho shook off the thoughts. "I'll be fine, girls. Thanks."

As Miho walked off, Darjeeling helped pour another cup for Assam. "She's been spacing out a lot lately," Orange Pekoe said.

"Mmm," Darjeeling softly agreed, "her transmissions are getting delayed from expected response times."

"What could be on her mind?" Assam pondered. "The match yesterday must've been really stressful to her and her crew if the daughter of a Nishizumi could be affected so."

"That would explain the stoicness of Maho Nishizumi." Rukuriri said.

"Is Miho still unable to contact her?" Orange Pekoe asked.

"I'd assume so," Darjeeling said with her cup hovering in front of her lips. "I can only imagine how much anxiety that is leaving for poor Miho…" She sip the tea as she finished.

* * *

Miho carried on and encountered the Anzio crews lazing on their tank hull eating out of cans. "Where'd you get those from?" Miho asked them.

"From our secret reserves!" Anchovy said.

"Where?"

"From in our tanks!" Anchovy said, pounding a fist onto her P40. "This school's got quite an appetite issue if I have to break into our precious stock of pasta!"

"Yeah! You tell her, Duce!" Pepperoni with her tomato-stained mouth said out loud.

Miho looked at the pleasured Anzio crews, content with their simple canned meal. _Must be nice to appreciate the little things_ Miho thought quickly swirled her mind.

"On the real subjects though, just give us the word and we'll roll out against the enemy!"

"Yeah, Duce!"

"Alright, I'll make sure you all are still on my list," Miho said to the excited Anzio team before moving on.

The Chi-Ha-Tan girls kept screaming "Banzai!" or "Uoooooooooo!" in charging cries. Continuation were simply tinkering with their tanks, melodies coming from the BT-42 while curses and metallic clattering from the from that, Chi-Ha-Tan and Continuation didn't have much else going on, too busy with themselves at their breaks and with nothing else to report to Miho.

Miho finally came across Pravda with their tanks all fixed up. Miho saw Klara, Nonna, and Katyusha all on the IS-2 doing their own deeds. Nonna saw Miho came up and put a small _Shh_ gesture with her finger, then with the other hand gesturing to a standing Katyusha on the IS-2 turret. She was on a phone. Miho thought it must be important one before Katyusha suddenly started stamping her feet.

"What do you mean 'you can't ship them to me'?! You people always have!"

She seemed very upset.

"Look, I made an order two weeks ago, and I'm suppose to have them yesterday!... Okay! That was an exaggeration! But I made a valid purchase!"

Klara was on the hull rear of the IS-2 and Miho made her way up to her first. "Who's Katyusha talking to?"

"The supplier of our tanks in Russia, there is a dispute going on," Klara said almost as coldly as Nonna, though her Russian accent interfered with complete clarity of her language.

"Listen, that policy never existed on the Terms of Condition! I read it myself! … Yes! Because no one told me I wasn't suppose to read it in entirety! I'm not crazy here!"

"What kind of dispute?" Miho asked Klara in between Katyusha's shouting.

"They are not sending the tanks we have purchased. That's why Ms. Katyusha is upset."

"What tanks did you try buying?"

"Fine! Keep your stupid tanks! Pravda can win this tournament, without you!" Katyusha finished stamping and violently hanged up on her phone before screaming "Gaaahhh! How dare they!"

Miho and Klara stayed silent among Katyusha's ranting.

"Oh, hey Miho…" Katyusha finally noticed and climbed down from the turret. She sat down next to Klara on the hull rear before sighing heavily.

"What happened?" Miho asked.

Katyusha drank a bit from a canteen Klara offered before answering. "I ordered tanks two weeks ago. The newer ones, like the T-44 and anything from the ISU family."

"Those would be nice additions," Miho thought of those tanks in comparison to Pravda's current inventory.

"BUT!" Katyusha cut off Miho hard. "They decided not to go through with the transaction because they just recently ran out of stock! Can you believe they tried to pass off the blame to sanctions of all things?! That is absolutely absurd because back when the Ukraine thing happened, we certainly didn't have problems getting tanks then!" Katyusha ferociously spoke and caught her breath at the same time.

"So why do you think they're holding back the tanks?" Miho said.

"One reason I can think of," Katyusha said, with a finger wagging at Miho in a _I-know-they're-up-to-something_ fashion. "See, this company that sells Tankery and Sensha-dou approved vehicles got itself one of the biggest buyers of armored vehicles in Russia. Can you guess who?"

Only one certain buyer comes to mind that resides in Russia. "Suvorov…"

Klara nodded with contempt. "Suvorov…" she said, almost swirling that word in her mouth.

"So yeah, they'd buy ALL the tanks available by the company so they don't have anymore left to sell! And even if I did buy it first, they want to supply some pompous school because they're afraid of offending their biggest business deal yet!"

Katyusha finally took a breath in, and was panting for air. Klara again offered her canteen, to which Katyusha took up.

"Well, whether we'll fight them or not really depends if they win the next round, right?" Miho tried to provide some degree of hope.

"They will win," Klara said with a voice firm in belief, yet uneasy at that thought.

"You're from Russia, aren't you?" Katyusha brought up Klara's heritage. "Why don't you tell us about Suvorov?"

"I… uh," Klara hesitated. "I don't know much about them. My eyes had only been for Pravda since my time in Russia, nothing more."

"Pity," Katyusha said. Indeed, they might've gotten some nice details about Suvorov's impact to Russia. "But it's nice to see Pravda's influence stretch far and wide like a Siberian plain!"

"So it is devoid of people?" Klara asked in amusement veiled with innocence.

"...shut up!" Katyusha shot back before walking back to Nonna on the turret. Miho looked at Klara and noted she was smiling with mild amusement.

"I'll be going now," Miho said to Klara.

"Mmm, Das vidanya," Klara waved Miho goodbye.

Miho continued walking, checking on everyone on the way. Chatting up with a few of the girls present on how they were doing. A group of Saunder girls with their own M4 Sherman tank saw Miho coming and stood in attention. "Hello ma'am!" They said in near unison as she approached. Miho was surprised at this show of respect.

"You can rest easy," Miho assured them, and they slouched a bit. Miho noticed one of the girl's hands shaking. "Is something wrong with your hand?" Miho asked the girl.

"N-no!" The Saunder girl nearly yelped out.

"Are you alright?"

"N-no, just nervous…" The girl said nervously.

"W-why?" Miho asked. Was there something she was not aware of?

"W-well…" The girl said. "You're the 'Legend'..."

Miho looked at the girl in a daze. She looked back at the other four girls. When she did, they changed their forward stance towards her direction. "Does that warrant this kind of view?" Miho asked, unsure of how to dispel this mythicism around her.

"Well…" The same girl stammered, "When Kuromorimine was on their streak years ago, there was always this cult of personality around them…"

Miho looked back at the girl. The girl shirked back as if she's touched a trip wire she never should've touched.

For a second, Miho could see how Ōarai and her now stood in the Sensha-dou world. After Kuromormine's streak had been smashed by her personally, the sport needed a new idol to follow behind, to inspire others to follow the sport and art. It was obvious that the void was filled by the newest kid on the block. It was an unspoken nomination, no official endorsement was needed. Ōarai had become the new school to follow behind in the idolization of Sensha-dou.

And Miho's title had become a rally call, following the old Nishizumi tradition.

"We don't do that kind of stuff here," Miho finally said to the Saunder girls. "Just do your jobs and take it easy."

"Yes ma'am!"

"And just call me by my name. There is no need for formalities."

"Oh, uh, okay, Ms. Nishizumi."

Miho decided that was enough before leaving the Saunder girls. She didn't know what to think of that experience. Is this what they called power? A sense of authority over a particular field?

Suddenly, Kraus' words came back to her head.

 _A third-year high school student who led a no-name school to victory not once, but twice! Against immeasurable odds, was able to win! Our integrity was shaken! Suddenly, our name meant very little next to you and your so called 'Ōarai' school._

Was the power struggle in Tankery more volatile than that of Sensha-dou? Miho couldn't grasp her head around it. _I just want a normal high school life…_

As Miho nearly finished her walk near the garage, she saw a strange sight. Isabelle and Emma sitting next to each other on a storage box watching something in Isabelle's hands inside the garage.

She walked in softly, almost instinctively, towards the two. Emma first turned back and saw the Ōarai commander coming towards her. She silently gestured Miho closer. Miho walked normally up to them and saw that Isabelle had a smart tablet in her arms. On it was a stream service with familiar announcers talking.

" _-and they're really on their last leg, Anderson! It seemed as if decades of vengeance from the Russians are being unleashed onto the Finnish!"_

" _And they really needed to, George! Hamina had put up one hell of a fight with what they've got. They've beaten Suvorov two tournaments ago, and Suvorov seems to have no intention of suffering that same humiliation again!"_

"What's this?" Miho asked the two cadets as they watched the scene unfold.

"Streaming service of today's match," Isabelle said, "It's Suvorov's military school from Russia against Hamina from Finland." Her voice was weary and in a resigned submission to what was about to happen on-screen.

" _It seems as if we're reaching the endgame for Hamina though. They did well with what little tanks they've got."_

" _I'd say, George. I've never seen someone gutsy enough to use a T-26 and take out a T-34 before! I'm sure that crew was embarrassed!"_

" _Still, even with their most modern equipments of Panzer IV J's, StuG III, and even an ISU-152, they just couldn't deal with the continued onslaught! They're down to only their flag tank now!"_

The stream soon switched to a scene of the match. The scene showed the match area of a swamp with an evening light shining onto the landscape. Not the best tank environment, but that is where the League apparently thought was the best place for a showdown against Finland and Russia. The screen showed a lone Panzer IV tank in the middle of piece of muddy land, surrounded by large patches of water. One length of tracks were broken and the _Schürzen_ plates were all beaten up with large holes punched into them. Despite the damages, the crew did not attempt to fix it, instead they hid inside their tank. One camera panned over and Miho got a good look on one of their faces. It was determined, but Miho could see an emotion as the person looked around frantically. Fear, anxiety, awareness.

"What's going on? What are they doing?" Miho asked.

"Bloody reds about to do what they love to do…" Emma said, also staring into the screen. Though unlike Isabelle, her eyes seemed to show a glint of anticipation, as if expecting quite a show.

" _The commander is struggling George… He knows there's no way out, but he's going to fight to the bitter end!"_

" _Love his spirit! Oh look! They're starting!"_

 _What was starting?_ Miho first thought and then a large light show played out on the tank. Bright lights of green and red bounced off the tank, along with tiny sparks. Miho looked again. It wasn't a light show, it was a barrage of bullets. Bullets fired from the firearms like the MP40, P-38, and Kar 98Ks Ōarai has now.

"A firefight in a tankery match?" Miho asked with surprise. Sure, she was shot at in the last match, but this…

"Oh yeah, ballsy people like the friggen' Russians would do stuff like this…" Isabelle said while shaking her head.

"This type of fighting is legal?"

Emma looked back at Miho, "Did you ever read that rule book we gave you in Britain?"

"N-not really…" Miho said with mild embarrassment.

"Then _shh_ now, ask later."

The screen flashed with the display of lights. The commander on his cupola fought back against their assailant. A metallic piece in his arms and a very rapid muzzle flash erupted from the machine at the direction of fire. Soon, Miho saw the loader hatch open on the right and the loader inside the tank also fired back. The _Schürzen_ plates on the hull providing cover against the small arms fire. As the two turret crew member shot, the machine gun port on the hull was also spraying fire towards the tank front. The camera stayed on the tank, not showing who they were firing against. The turret turned slowly towards the direction the commander and loader were firing, a cause by the manual traverse mechanism on the J verison of the Panzer IV.

As it turned, the loader suddenly lurched up a bit and flopped over the hatch rim, his slump body laid in a relaxed form half out the turret. The commander soon dropped from his cupola and the loader's body was soon dragged inside. The Panzer IV turret still traversed, and the driver was now outside his hatch and firing into the wilderness to the left of the tank.

A figure dashed on the corner of the camera. Miho saw it briefly, a man with brown fatigues with a dark green helmet. He moved among the foliage around the tank. The grass, the tree, the water all reacted to his presence, but in the chaos the commander had missed that sign.

Rapid tracer rounds zipped in, smashing into the protruding cupola on the turret roof as they bounce all over the place. The commander only fought back by firing his submachine gun at the tracer direction, only the tracer seemed to move up the cupola and smash into the commander instead. He fell down into the cupola as the turret finished its traverse. Though facing right towards the source of tracer, its coaxial did not fire.

Men now surrounded the tank. Miho saw seven men surrounding the tank, outside of the hull machine gun's angle and began climbing what was becoming a metal coffin. The driver with his open hatch, popped out and fired a few rounds into a person climbing near his position, but another man then came in and shot him with a pistol. The driver fell back into his position.

The Russians were now on all over the Panzer IV. The men present increased to thirteen. One was at the open cupola the commander fell down in and another pointed his weapon down through the driver's hatch. They did not fire and simply aimed hardly at the interior.

Soon, the gunner and assistant driver's hatches open and two men popped out with hands up.

Isabelle sighed, "Well… that's that."

"What happened?" Miho was still processing what on earth happened in that scene.

"You can have your so-called tankers pull infantry duty and knock out tanks from the ground, or knock out the crew members," Emma explained. "Such is of Tankery and war. Tanks had always been at the mercy of lone infantry squads able to get onto their blind spots and knock them out."

"But why?" Miho asked. "Wouldn't it be easier to just use another tank?"

"Easier? yes? Empowering? no," Isabelle said, putting away the tablet. "The Russians did that because they could. They had T-34-85s and IS-2s, all that heavy hitting stuff, and they decide to use infantry to finish off the Finnish."

Miho was about to make a mental note to never put anyone in that position, then remembered what she did in the last match's conclusion. "So where does this leave us?"

"Well," Emma started. "You, Ōarai Girls High School, are about to fight one of the baddest, worst, ferocious team out there in Tankery's history."

"The Russians?"

"Bingo. Suvorov Military School. They're just like us, training children to become full-fledged soldiers. Only they're Russians."

"Being Russians don't necessarily mean they're that bad." Isabelle said.

Emma stood up, "If you ask me, they're pretty darn bad."

"How bad?" Miho butted into the two's little talk.

"Well, first of all, Suvorov has a history of pushing the rules to the limits," Emma started.

"They break rules?"

"No, no. I said 'pushing to the limits', they'd do things that are 1) so crazy no one would think of it, and 2) do things that are technically legal, but are often questioned."

"Like use a radio-intercepting balloon instead of an aircraft?" Miho asked.

"Yeah, kind of like that."

"Okay…" Miho settled. "We've dealt with schools bending rules like that before, it shouldn't be too bad…"

"I'm sorry…" Emma said, blinking as if she couldn't believe she heard that. "Did you say it 'shouldn't be too bad'?"

"Y-yes?"

"You have no idea what Suvorov has with Tankery, do you?"

"...no…"

"Figures…" Emma said as she paced around walking.

"In Tankery history, there is a long-lasting feud that is said to last since World War I…" Isabelle explained to Miho. "A feud between Germany and Russia. One that I'm certain you're familiar of with their...well, volatile history with each other."

"Eastern fronts in both World Wars...yeah," Miho recalled.

"Well, that translates to the modern one we have today with the only form of combat they can express without killing everyone in the world. In tankery, within the teams of Suvorov Military School for the Russians, and Carius Academy for the Germans."

Carius and Suvorov… So such a relationship could exist?

"Y'know…" Emma started again, "all this drama with the World Tournament that the world all love and enjoy, it's not that they come to see what fruits the different countries can show. They came to watch Suvorov and Carius duke it out to the bitter end."

"When the two arm themselves in the tournaments. They don't arm themselves to survive the tournament; they arm themselves to annihilate the other. Everyone else is small fry," Isabelle said.

"These two schools are literally trading championships with each other in the World Tournament. Sometimes Carius gets it, then Suvorov the next time, then back to Carius. These two schools are very, very powerful in the world of Tankery. No one had been able to compete with them since their formation…"

"And we're next…" Miho finished.

Emma smacked her lips, "Yep."

"Not even Marshall thought it was worthwhile to change our force against the two," Isabelle said. "They're just way, way more dedicated to their arts than any normal person could be."

Such a power struggle in what had always been interpreted as spiritual arts. Has Tankery really gotten itself into such a contention between the two schools? Miho recalled the words the Tankery captains have used.

 _"You still don't know the true dedication people have with Tankery. People are way more hardcore about this stuff."_

Marshall's word had been taken so lightly, but now… it actually explained well with Kraus' attitude.

" _My school has been the shining stone of Tankery for decades! I, like the many Captains of Carius beforehand, have been a core part of establishing the dominance of Tankery in this world! Capitalism, communism, terrorism! All that can bow under Tankery! We are the supreme example of the power of Tankery and its influence in the world!"_

What a sport to be in! Miho tried to imagine what sorts of audience such a struggle could even come up that would see that as entertainment.

But she was a commander of a Sensha-dou team. She was leading the team against one of those team. Suvorov. No matter how tough they are, a tank must always move forwards!

"W-what can I do against them?" Miho asked the two cadets.

"First step, machine guns," Emma answered.

"Wait, m-machine guns?" Miho was expecting something else here...

"You saw how they chewed up that lone tank in the match," Isabelle said. "Machine guns. Increase the firepower per person. These Russians will be playing dirty, so prepared to put your hands into the same pile."

"Machine guns… I mean, we have a few MG 34 for the infantry, but that's for scouting…"

"Your Panzer IV should have an accommodation for a ring mount around the cupola for the MG 34 machine guns. I'd recommend adding that as soon as possible," Emma said. "Also, your Shermans? Add the .50 cals."

"Lots and lots of .50 cals," Isabelle highlights their importance. "No firepower like more dakka. Then see if you can add those .30 machine guns in front of the commander's cupola as well."

Miho thought about that very large machine gun hanging off the Achilles back then, the way it fired at her was very frightening. But then again, if it worked on her…

"Okay, I'll try to get those-"

"Hey, there ain't no try," Emma butt in. "It's do, or don't. Just like how it's win, or lose. So get snappy on that. Remember, _Panzer Glory_ does international shipping. Cheaper in bulks."

"O-okay…" Miho reminded herself. _Machine guns…_ "Anything else?"

"I'd recommend a scouting mission," Isabelle bluntly laid out.

Emma raised her hand. "I second it," Emma said, supporting Isabelle's statement.

Miho heard that and figured Isabelle was just trying to jam that mission into priority anyway possible to make it happen. But now that Miho was aware of such a thing, she'd be doing her best to prevent reckless situations. Plus if Survorov's as bad as it get… "Alright Isabelle… but Yukari comes back safe, alright?"

Isabelle raised her head on hearing that approval. "Don't worry, leave it all to me."

"Okay, so machine guns and a scouting mission…"

"Don't forget to focus training for your team. Your last match was quite shoddy. Against the Russians, you can not make a single mistake against them. They'll eat you all raw."

"I think that was on the original schedule already," Miho said trying to ease up the situation that Ōarai had something going for it. "That sounds about right…"

"One more thing," Isabelle said. "Improve your firearms training with the other girls."

"Why?" All these emphasis on small arms that won't even be able to defeat enemy tanks, for what?

"Suvorov likes to launch their own scouting missions as well," Emma explained.  
"Even on smaller institutions like yourself. Best keep yourselves on alert. Put some efforts into defense strategies. I've been taking a look around just now and there's a few improvements I can help with if you don't mind."

"I'd appreciate it!" Miho said to Emma. Anything to help ease the workload now burdened on her.

Emma and Isabelle seemed to be recounting anything else that could be said, like pulling into a box of criticism for Ōarai and reading it out loud. "Well, that's a start I suppose… right?" Emma asked Isabelle, to which she nod lightly.

"Nishizumi-dono!" A familiar voice called out from the garage door.

"Yes, Yukari?"

"We're all waiting for you! Practice is about to commence soon!"

"Oh! Sorry Yukari! I'll be out there in a bit!"

"Actually…" Isabelle stood up and faced Yukari. "That practice session we talked about earlier? Let's do it now."

"Huh? Why?" Yukari asked.

"I'll explain later. First, Miho should go back to attend to her team." Isabelle said before turning to Miho, "Sorry for taking her earlier than mentioned."

"That's fine," Miho replied. "Make the most of the time, alright?"

"Don't worry, I got it," Isabelle said to Miho. Miho then proceeded out the garage.

"What's going on, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked as Miho passed by.

"We're against Suvorov Military School next in the tournament."

"The Russians? Oh boy, we're in trouble, aren't we?"

"As long as we all do our jobs, we'll be fine," Miho said. "And, um… when you go back out there…" Miho paused as she looked at Yukari. She saw how the Russians chewed up those crew members in their Panzer IV. What would happen when Yukari, in her own little world, go out there and fail against the Russians. What would they do? Why is she sending her friend into a place where one of the most ferocious team live in? "...you be careful, okay?"

Yukari knew Miho worried a lot about her being out there in enemy territory. Ever since she's come back from Britain that night, she knew Miho had kept a close eye on her safety. "Don't worry Nishizumi-dono. I can more than handle myself!"

Miho smiled at Yukari's confidence, then left the garage.

"Come here, Yukari!" Isabelle's voice echoed in the hangar as Yukari walked in.

"Don't worry, I won't bite…" Emma was also there, looking at Yukari.

Yukari, nervous that Emma just might lunge at her over their little feud, hurried along closer to Isabelle's side.

"Okay, first of all," Isabelle said, addressing the two of them. "Let's get this stupid little grudge out of the way. Yukari, did you bring the data?"

"Y-yeah…" Yukari said as she reached into a pocket. Isabelle pulled out a simple digital camera from hers and opened a side door for the memory. Yukari then pulled out a SD card.

"Is that...?" Emma said surprised at what was unfolding. Isabelle paid no attention while she worked on the camera. She took the SD card from Yukari and half-inserted the card into its position, only needing a click to be locked in.

"Okay now, Yukari, do you swear that this was the only copy of the data you took in Britain that day?"

"Y-yeah!" Yukari said loudly and as confidently as she could.

"Alright, now Emma," Isabelle handed the camera to Emma, "check out if your stuff is here. Do what you want with it."

Emma took it rather cautiously and suspiciously. She then fitted in the SD card and closed the card gate. She turned on the camera. A few seconds of her own scrolling, she stared up to Yukari, who eyed cautiously before escaping her glare.

"Everything you expected?" Isabelle asked Emma, who still looked surprised at this circumstance.

She looked between Isabelle and Yukari, expecting maybe that this was all just one big trick, except it wasn't. "Yes…"

"Anything else I can do to help repair your dignity?"

Emma, annoyed by Isabelle's tone, simply push in a few clicks, beeps, and then returned the camera. "That'll be all… thanks."

Isabelle took the camera back and examined its content once more before putting it away. "Okay, now that all the offending content of 'sleeping kitty' is gone."

"Hey!"

"So you're both even now right?"

"...Right" Emma said warily. Yukari didn't say anything over the tense wall between the two. Who knows how deep Emma's dug the grudge hole.

"Good, now we can move on to Yukari's training for her upcoming scouting venture, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what do I have to do with it?"

"Well…" Isabelle said before focusing her attention to Yukari. "You're going to help me teach Yukari some basic combat skills, like close-quarter combat, gunnery, and give her any advice you have about scouting. I want you to train with her too. Show her how to do things like get the right stance to throw people, put people in chokeholds, and all those other hand-to-hand combat techniques. Then help her on the firing range. Got some new equipment for her to take on her next mission so we'll also have to help her familiarize herself around those too."

"Surely you're not serious?" Emma asked.

"I'm serious, and don't call me Shirley," Isabelle looked at Emma seriously. Emma simply conceded with a shrug. Isabelle reached down and grab the M1 Garand that was resting along the box they sat on this whole time. "Alright Yukari, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

 **So another slice of life on what the girls are doing on their little carrier.**

 **That's a large cast living on a carrier, huh? All the tanks brings us to nearly 150 people participating as crew in the 35 tank tournament. It will be even more once I bring it up to 40 and 50 tanks.**

 **Either way, I hope you're enjoying this small interlude between the two battles. This will be the set-up to the next battle and hopefully we can get the plot ball rolling downhill with full steam!**

 **Thanks for reading my story and my new chapter! If you want to see what will happen next, feel free to Follow and Favorite the story! Don't be afraid to drop a review as well! I hope I see you all next time!**

 **Also, apologies to the Finnish.**

 ** _Edit 04/03:_ For those of you wondering where my Chapter 18 I posted on 04/01 went, I put it onto the story's forum if you want to see it still.**

 ** _Edit 06/29: Siberian, not Serbian plains. Thanks to_ Goodalwayswins98 for pointing it out.**


	18. Maginot Curves

_**Girls Und Panzer: The World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 18: Maginot Curves**

 **Tank Field - Ōarai's Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

As the command tank, Anglerfish did not have to worry much about reloading, the loss of Yukari was negligible. Miho had poor Saori to service the loading process of the 75 mm for the rest of the day. During the process when Hana practiced her marksmanship at distant targets, Saori was having a frustrated time of her life trying to manage a decent loading rate.

"C'mon Saori, you were much better just in yesterday's match…" Hana said as she waited patiently for Saori to pick up another round in the hull.

"That was a time of opportunity!" Saori said. "This is different! You can't expect me to be as good! I'm barely ever in the turret before this!"

Miho sympathized with Saori's difficulties as she rustled around the turret basket for a round.

"How does Yukari do this?!" She complained rhetorically.

It took practice and a small stature for such a task, a small briefing for Saori was needed next time they end up in such a situation.

Yukari, on the other hand and outside the tank, was having a completely different type of training. A distance from Anglerfish's Panzer IV, they were set up a distance to the rear of Anglerfish doing their thing.

"Hyup!" Yukari cried as she threw the British over her shoulders onto a padded mat acquired from the ninja club. Her victim could only brace herself as her full weight landed onto the mat.

"Gah!" Emma landed with a rather crunching _WHAM_ onto the mat.

"Well done, Yukari," Isabelle said, teaching Yukari all sorts of ways to subdue another human being.

"Yeah… great job, ow," Emma moaned as she picked herself up.

"Alright, now get up, Emma," Isabelle extended an arm for her. "You have to help her learn how to tackle someone head-on now."

"I swear I'm gonna get clocked in the face one of these days…" Emma muttered.

" _Miho! You there?!_ " Someone shouted for her through the radio.

"Ah! Yes?" Miho replied back. She needs to focus at the task at hand. "Uh, status report!"

Training proceeded quite normally even with Yukari out. Time slipped by their little fingers as the sky turned orange and the sun set on the horizon. Miho only noticed it as well after looking at the map inside the turret and saw the orange hue through the cupola vision blocks glare off the white parchment. "Saori, what time is it?" Miho asked.

"Uh," Saori opened her flip phone in the loader seat. Her bluish grey uniform was now greasy after servicing the gun a few times in the day. Compared to the radio and machine gun, the propellent smoke the gun gives off the comes back from the breech and the ammo had made a mess out of Saori. She was usually the cleanest girl of the tank next to Hana. "It's almost 6:00!"

"Time flies…" Miho said as she got back to her radio, "Okay, everyone. It's getting late now, pull back and get ready to stow the tanks away!"

Anglerfish's Panzer IV barely left the concrete area around the garages during the activity, staying put as Miho coordinated the team from a distance and only moving as far as the firing range. Thus, the Panzer IV only had to reverse back to its parking space in the garage. When the engine died down, Miho finished up and climbed out of her cupola onto the hull. The tank is a part of her, but it's still a wonderful feeling to be released from its constraints. "I'm going to find Yukari to help us out with preparing the Panzer IV for the night storage."

"Okay Miporin! Don't be too long!" Saori said from the loader's hatch.

"Yeah, cleaning the tracks is a pain…" Mako commented softly as Miho made her distance.

Outside the garage to the left of the incoming tanks that are coming in, the firing range was still active. The smaller one next to the one for tanks had Saunder students, with their Shermans parked to the side, firing away with Thompsons at the metal targets placed on the other end of the range, a large dirt pile behind them to ensure stray shots will only harmlessly land into the soft natural barrier.

To the right of the six or seven Saunder girls being instructed by Instructor Kyline was two girls seeming nagging on a certain fluff hair.

"You see this dust cover?" An accented voice said, pointing to the metal contraption in Yukari's hand.

"Y-yeah?"

"Open it." Yukari did so, and with a simple flip it was up. "Now you're killing. Close it up." Yukari did so, and with a simple flip it was down. "Now you ain't."

"What Emma is trying to say with what limited vocabulary she is spouting is that the dust cover is the safety mechanism for the M3 submachine gun." Isabelle explained in finer detail of the mechanism.

"Mind you, I was quoting a movie," Emma retorted.

"Yeah? Well you didn't make it clear. Here, Yukari," Isabelle handed Yukari a long rod of metal. Yukari took it and weighed it in her hand. "You know how magazines work, right? Jam it in there."

Yukari did so, the magazine locked in with a click that was drowned out by the other firing going on.

"Extend the stock, take up a firing position, and aim down at your target from here," Isabelle pointed and help guide Yukari through the machine. "That target is about fifty yards, peep sight is calibrated to a hundred. Fire in bursts and try to hit the target."

Yukari processed the information as she did what was said. The wire stock extended, she stood at a steady stance like she did when firing the MP40, and sighted in the gun. A few second of steadiness and she let loose a few rounds, the casing springing into the air on her right, a few casings dinged Emma on her head, which she reacted with mild annoyance. The bursts last only a second each before a mechanical chunkle sounded from the piece. Yukari looked up and saw the dust cover area blocked by the bolt.

"And you're out," Isabelle said, taking the submachine gun from Yukari's hand and cranking the bolt back before clicking the dust cover shut. "What do you think?"

"It's… like typewriter," Yukari recounted the experience. "It was easy to keep it on the target because that _da da da_ feeling… That was awesome!"

"Glad to hear," Isabelle manipulated the Grease gun to point to the ground, "We'll continue this tomorrow. Oh, look, you're commander is here." Isabelle looked towards Miho at the distance, whom only meekly waved back.

"Nishizumi-dono! Did you see me?!"

"Yes, you were great Yukari!" Miho said back. "We're getting ready to end the day though, so we need your help getting the Panzer IV ready!"

"Okay!" Yukari said, "Just give me a moment!"

Miho nodded in acknowledgement as Yukari went back to the two cadets. Yukari hadn't been this excited ever since firing the Panzer IV's gun the first time. She was waving her arms excitingly as she oozed out her excitement, with the cadets only nodding along with her before Isabelle had to wave her away to other concerns. Waving goodbye, Yukari ran to Miho's location. "Sorry about that!"

"You had fun today?"

"Yes I did! Do you know how many time I choked out Emma today?" Yukari beamed at Miho.

"I'd rather not, and hope you won't use it on me," Miho slugged along with Yukari's trend as a T-34-85 roll by the girls. Despite the large concrete space, the traffic caused by the large team has made the space a concerning automotive hazard.

"I won't!" Yukari said back, "besides, something tells me that you have, like, five other ways to beat up anyone who tries!"

"Hmm…" Miho thought back. Yes, Kuromormine did have the martial arts program. She hasn't practiced it in a long while, yet it remained so fresh she walloped Yukari the other day. A method of teaching done right? "Yeah, maybe…" She didn't really know. It could all just be in instinct reserve waiting to be unleashed.

"You know, Nishizumi-dono, you should teach me a few stuff as well!"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Miho vehemently denied, waving both her hands in refusal. "I can't do that. I was never that great in it!"

"Really? You have such skill in it though!"

"Maybe, but you should ask someone better, like my sister, she…" Miho paused mid-sentence, "... she's way more talented in that field."

"Miho…" Yukari could feel the small pain in Miho's head. "I'm sure you're sister's fine out there. If something truly bad happened, we'd know by now, wouldn't we?"

"Yeah… but still… I can't help that something is really wrong here," Miho shuddered.

Yukari patted Miho on the back, akin to Kay's five-star, but softly and with reassurance. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? C'mon! Everyone's waiting!"

"Oh, right!"

The two girls made it back amidst the tank traffic that was intensifying. The garage was beginning to fill up as tanks came in. The tanks that were parked already were being tended to by their crew. Anglerfish were already at work on the Panzer IV. A long pry bar resting alongside the hull indicate that the girls had checked the track tensioning to make sure it won't walk the track off the next time they take it out. Working on the engine was more complicated but made easier with Leopon team and some stray maintenance girls from Saunders helping out. Focus was made on the engine fluids such as the oil and coolant, two often-neglected components on an engine's running cycle. Hana and Saori were working together on it, checking the oil storage with the dipstick for suitability.

"How's she doing, Saori?" Yukari asked.

"Pretty good! The panzer will roll like a charm!" Saori said as she held onto the dipstick.

Mako was up front checking the transmission through the panels on the front glacis, a graceful addition to whoever added it in the design for ease of maintenance. Compared to machines like the Panther with only a flat sloped glacis with no panels to access the transmission, the Panzer IV was quite a friendly vehicle to take care of.

"Anything out of the ordinary, Mako?" Miho asked as she looked down at where Mako was looking at.

"No. We didn't run it much today, so it is still well-lubricated."

"When did you learn how to take care of the transmission anyways?" Saori asked from the engine deck.

"I read about it."

"I wish I had your skills…" Saori grumbled before rambling on about calculus.

Still, their work was quite tame compared to everyone else who was out running their tanks on the playing field. With everyone willing to take care of their vehicle to a certain extent, Leopon has had their work cut out for them. The biggest pain in the maintenance department for Ōarai was the Tiger (P). Its complex power drive had made it unforgiving to all but the most knowledgeable of automotive performances, namely Leopon. Within about half an hour since the last tank made its parking, everyone had done their most basic tank servicing.

"Alright girls!" Instructor Ami said out of her lungs to the large group of school girls gathered back outside the garage on the concrete gathering area. "Great work out there, today! Everyone gave their 120% effort, right?!"

"Yes ma'am!" Some of the more military-affiliated girls replied back compared to the simple "Yes!"

"Alrighty then! Now, before you are dismissed, the student council of Ōarai have this to say to you!"

Instructor Ami stepped aside as Anzu took center stage on the attention by simply moving forwards. "Okay! We just got our bearings for our next match location!"

The girls in the crowd was now excited with conversations. Where would they be? What wondrous location will they be in now? Will it be a nasty place where tank movement will be a nightmare like the last match? Or will it be perfect tank country on the large rolling fields?

"Quiet down! We're just getting to it!" Momo shouted on the top of her lungs to the crowd. Her voice was drowned out in the commotion, but as diligent girls hushed each other, the talking died down.

Anzu cleared her throat again, "We'll be fighting in France!"

"What?" Miho reacted in wonder. The "Western Front" of the 20th century was about to become their next battlefield?

"How interesting!" Saori exclaimed. "First Britain, then America, then Canada, and now France? It's like a world tour!"

The other girls in the crowd were all ecstatic at this prospect. France was just one more interesting location for the girls to be in.

"Quiet down now!" Momo shouted out loud and seconds passed before tranquility in the sunset returned. "The location may be interesting! I agree as well, and we'll be there within two days at our current speed! However! Our opponents is nothing to sneer at when we arrive! We will be fighting the Russians of Suvorov Military School!"

Murmers return.

"What?" A girl absent-mindedly spouted

"I saw them on TV!" Another girl exclaimed.

"Oh no!" Another despaired.

Momo called for attention with her stance and body language, "I expect us all to fight as hard as possible! We fought the Americans and the British already, if we take the lessons from those two battles, we'll have a chance against them! Is that clear?!"

"Yeah!"

The commotion was again chaotic as the mood among the girls range from anxiety to enthusiasm.

"It's nice to see everyone in such high spirits," Hana commented loud enough for the Anglerfish girls to hear among the ambience.

"Yeah…" Saori agreed. "The Russians? Huh, I'd figured we would be going to France to fight Dianne."

"Who?" Miho asked.

"Dianne? The French girl?" Saori focused the question in a penetrating move towards Miho's thoughts. "We saw her at the selection, remember?"

Miho thought back a few chapters in her head.

Saori sighed, "You slammed face-first into her breasts."

"Oh yes, her!" Miho recalls. "That's right, she's in this tournament… Would be curious to end up fighting her on her home country."

* * *

 **Next Day - Rolling Plains, Ireland**

The girl in her faded blue uniform let out a chipmunk sneeze while sitting on the open hatch on her turret rear.

"À tes souhaits," the radio operator, Katy, down below the turret in the hull said towards her tank commander.

"Merci," Dianne sniffed as she readjusted her helmet, a color of between faded green and blue, that was knocked about from her head movement. She looked over the cupola from her hatch on the rear, as she did the top of her breasts hit the hatch edge harshly. "Merde…" Dianne cursed silently. Physical constraints on the tank had been harsh to her physique and she still struggled despite the familiarity with the tank.

Still, she had a view of the landscape, giving her a better view than the one forward vision block available gave her, which was slightly hampered by the foliage camouflage they had strewn about on the tank hull as the tank took up position.

Their tank were placed on a hill overwatching a large grassy plain in front. On the plains, three knocked out tanks were present, idle since their white flag popped out. The crew were already evacuated, but as the place was still a battlefield, the tanks were left as is.

The competition was unpredictable with their competitor. After defeating Madrid Armored University of Spain in their bracket, De Gaulle Tank School had moved on to face the contestant on the other bracket. In that bracket, Nankai High School of China faced against Phalanx Academy of Greece.

And now, they were against the Chinese on the plains of Ireland. Vast rolling plains of simply grass and rocks, the only things breaking the landscape are the thick swatches of trees and bushes scattered about. Almost perfect tank country.

"Capitaine!" Katy cried from inside the tank. "Report from our Panhards. Enemies are making their move on sector Duff."

"Affirmative," Katy said, dropping back down into the turret. She bumped about as the turret interior reminded how her bust made the conditions cramped, "Tell everyone to hold their positions and wait for my command," Diane told and Katy returned to her duty. "Driver, shift right a bit. Target the 75 towards that swatch of bushes at our 1 o' clock."

"Roger that," the driver, Adele, said as she shifted the lumbering 28 ton Char B1 bis into the orientation. Meanwhile, the loader, Selena, checked her inventory of 75 mm shells once more.

The command Char B1 bis platoon had planted themselves on a part of the field. Due to the large size of the field, the 35 tank team had to be split up to seven platoons of five to manage the arena. Two platoons are held in reserve as a "fire brigade", leaving only five on the front to keep an eye out for the enemy. Small skirmishes have occurred on three of the platoon's front by recon groups, hence the hulks of battered tanks scattered in front of Dianne's Char B1 bis and her four other medium tanks.

However, the last skirmish happened almost 20 minutes ago. It's just been a long wait now. A phony war?

Dianne sighed as she picked at her canteen on her blazoned brown belt. Unscrewing the lid, she held it up and drank.

"Capitaine!" Adele suddenly cried.

Dianne coughed up her drink in surprise, her helmet hitting the various components on top of her and her mid-body on the turret gear. "What?!" She said while gagging.

"Smoke! In front!"

After reorienting herself, Dianne looked through the front vision port on the cupola, one of the three vision sights available on the cupola, the other two on the left of her cupola and the rear. None for the right side. Though the sky was cloudy in a dark grey tone, the smoke in front of her was bright white, newly formed from whatever machines the Chinese have.

"Katy! Get the other's status reports! What's going on out there?!" Dianne ordered as she kept her eye on the distance. Katy hastily called away on her radio to the other platoons. Adele had her right hand hovering over the 75 mm's gun, ready to service it onto any targets. Selena had a 75 mm ammo in her hand, ready for the loading.

Dianne, inside her one-man turret, checked the 47 mm gun that had made residency with her. She looked back through the front vision port onto the horizon for any movement. The smoke stirred, something was inside it.

"Damn it, Katy, what's going on?!"

Katy looked back up at Dianne. "All other fronts report no movement."

Dianne looked back up into the smoke cloud. It was way darker than how it was now, even darker than the grey clouds on top. It no longer spelled out a simple cloud of smoke, but something more menacing, like the mechanization of an entire fleet behind it, with enough exhaust to cover the background.

"Merde… Battle stations!" Dianne barked out, "Katy! Get our fire brigade up here, now! Anyone available, get them here ASAP!"

"Yes, capitaine!" Katy went back to her radio, abuzz from the commotion.

The first break from the smoke came, like curtains unveiling to the audience the main performance. Panzer Is came out of their concealment, same ones the Chinese used for their earlier skirmishes, spraying their machine gun armament downrange at the hills. Their shots scattered wildly, but a few rattled onto Dianne's Char B1 bis like a drum.

Dianne snapped out of any thoughts she had and operated the traverse gear on her turret, ready to aim onto the target. "Tell everyone to fire at will!" Dianne cried out into the tank. Katy proceeded to get on the radio on the platoon's frequency.

Dianne aimed through her telescopic scope, adjusting the gun on elevation based on the gradients on the right side. As she lined up an incoming Panzer I, about 600 meters from their position, into the sight; the tank suddenly lurched, turning left. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?! Driver, halt!"

"What?!" Adele screamed out! "I'm trying to aim the 75 at this tank here!"

"Yeah? Don't interfere with my aiming! Just shoot them as they come into your sight!"

"Yes, capitaine!"

Dianne returned back to her sights. What she saw was no longer a platoon of Panzer I, but an army of a collection of vehicles. CV-33 tankettes, BT cavalry tanks, and T-26 light tanks had emerged from the smoke. Behind those are Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks rumbling forwards with their old circular turret. Their exhaust fumes had created its own smoke screen as the tanks advanced. Suddenly, the five Char B1 tanks Dianne had felt very inadequate.

"Damn! That's the entire enemy force!" Adele cried out.

"Engage at will! They're focusing their attack on a single front for a breakthrough, don't let them get any closer!" Dianne shouted out while Katy relayed the command towards the others. "And make sure the flag tank stays with the reserve!"

The enemy tanks closed in, charging wildly. The 45 mm guns on the BT and T-26 fired on the move, the stray rounds flew in and threw up dust and dirt at their impact.

"Focus on those Russian tanks!" Dianne shouted as she aligned the sights to the first target, a BT-5 in the second-lines. Katy kept at it on the radio, trying to relay and digest the information coming in and out.

Dianne looked through her sights once more. She adjusted the distance… 450 meters now. The gradients on the right showed small indents for the distances, but the trajectory was nearly flat at that range. The enemies were at 400 meters before they fired. The 47 mm shell flew and struck a tank. The friendly units to her sides fired as well. The 47 mm fired with a _KLUNG_ followed by the brass shell clattering around. After each shot, Dianne must get down to the ammo racks and manually load the gun. _How much it would kill for a loader!_

The tank then sounded a _WHUMP_ as the 75 mm howitzer fired out of the hull. The fixed gun, only able to freely traverse vertically with its extremely limited horizontal traverse, blew out the round and then Selena readied it for the next shot. Dianne couldn't even tell if the 75 mm hit or not as she was busy servicing her own gun.

Dianne finally threw a round into the gun and looked through the cupola's port to examine the situation. The tanks were now closing in, though with five more tanks knocked out. However, the closest tank, a Panzer I, was now 300 meters. What a machine gun only tank is doing here is beyond her, but its machine gun was striking higher on the tank. One round created a _DING_ as it struck the top part of the cupola just above Dianne's head. Concerned, she reached back and closed the large rear turret hatch she was sitting on moments earlier to prevent stray rounds from ricocheting in. The cramped turret teased with her body, but she stopped caring.

Still, the problem was the T-26 and BT tanks. Their guns could do damages if they get close enough or to the sides. Dianne looked back to her scope and fired off another 47 mm. The round flew and bounced off the glacis of one of the Christie tanks. "Merde!" She cursed as she went back down to grab another 47 mm.

The field was still with explosions on both sides as the shells fly, hit or miss. Five tanks against twenty or so in the opposition. However, the centralized condition in the Char B1 meant that the commander could not observe the battlefield when firing, and if they were observing they could not fire. Dianne came back up to her vision port and saw the first tank only 200 meters away now. Even as her team whittled away at the enemy, they were still incoming en masse. Their large formation broke up any discernible efforts to count the individual tanks. They couldn't, they were busy firing as is.

Still, at least their 47 mm could actually do damages, the thin armor on the light tanks and tankettes were easy targets for the guns. Dianne aimed up her sight once more and aimed for another target.

A loud, sickening _CLANG_ rang throughout the Char B1 bis. The vibrations deafened the crew momentarily.

"Merde! What was that?!" Selena cried, clutching her right ear.

"That ain't no 45!" Adele shouted, unsure what to do with her hands. Continue servicing the gun, or prepare to move? "It came from the right!"

Dianne looked through her three cupola ports and saw nothing. She cursed and reached back and opened the rear hatch, as she did a rubber rifle round struck the the side of the turret. After flinching, she brought out with complications on the opening that seemed to be tightening on her upper body and peered out to the tank's right. In the distance, she could see the figure of a formidable tank. "Holy f… Shermans! Four of them! Our 2 o'clock!" She shouted down her tank while keeping her eye on the tanks. A plume of smoke appeared on the turret of one of the M4 Shermans, and another rattling _CLUNG_ slammed into the tank armor.

"All tanks, reverse!" Dianne yelled, followed by Katy desperately tried to keep the message sending on the radio. Adele moved a few gears on the transmission and the tank moved back, slowly with its one reverse setting. While looking out, Dianne saw to her right, one Char B1 had already been knocked out, smoke emerging from the impact of the enemy shell and a white flag on top. _How did I not see that?_ Dianne thought. _Why do we have to use these pre-war tanks anyways?! Just for that stupid grant?! It's a nice sum, but give me an ARL-44, please!_

Dianne fell back into her turret, hitting something once more, then looked around the cupola as they reversed. Dianne and her platoon mates retreated from the hill they occupied to the next defensive line. "Katy, where the hell is everyone?!"

"Unknown, capitaine!"

"Know it! This line is about to fold!" Dianne shouted as she viewed through her front cupola vision port. She kept her hands on the gun to service it on any tanks ready to crest the hill. The large wave was still incoming. The Char B1 platoon reversed pitifully out of their situation. A tank soon showed up on the hill top. Three 47 mm rounds took it out, revealing itself as a Panzer I as it rolled down, disabled. More came up as the tank commanders were reloading, and then another, then another. Panzer I, CV-33 tankettes, and soon the BT tanks made their appearance, rolling down onto the Char B1s. Suddenly, fire coming above the Char B1 rained down on a few of these tanks, disabling them. Dianne looked back and saw reinforcements. Five SOMUA S35 tanks at the distance firing towards the enemy wave.

"Capitaine! Reinforcement with fire brigade A has arrived!" Katy belatedly said.

"I can see that!" Dianne said to Katy's face as she picked another 47 mm shell. The enemy tanks were still closing in. The machine gun rattling continued, bumping off the Char B1 armor like a very, very annoying bell. A screeching, scraping noise sounded on the right side of their Char B1.

"I just painted that!" Adele shouted towards their close aggressor. Followed the scraping was the continuous _Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud_ of the machine gun armament trying to drill into the metal plating.

 _First of all, good luck with that,_ Dianne thought as she tried to translate her thoughts in all the noise. _Second of all, stop it._

But the Char B1 can not depress its gun at the Panzer I at its side. Then a crash happened right in front of the Char B1, pushing it slightly to the rear.

"Salaud!" Adele cried out, followed by a 75 mm shell being blasted out of the howitzer. Whatever was in front of the Char B1 was no longer a problem.

Was everyone else experiencing the same issue? Dianne couldn't tell, she was preoccupied, and the continuous machine gun fire isn't helping! She traversed her turret around, getting the cupola's vision ports on the angles to get a full situational awareness inside the tank.

She caught something on the corner of her eye. "Shermans, on the tank's 3 o'clock!"

The Shermans were cresting a small hill to the far right from Dianne. On the side hull on one Sherman, she could see the large red, rectangular shape of a Chinese flag. The Shermans aligned their turrets, firing at the distance towards the reserves tank. Rounds impacting the Shermans only bounced off with ill effect. The Sherman, with great impunity, fired away with their 75 mm onto the pre-war French infantry tanks. The SOMUA and their heavily sloped armor couldn't resist the Sherman's 75 mm rounds. After a few volleys, Dianne made the evaluation that the five SOMUA that supported her were probably all demolished. She stared at the Shermans as the closest one activated its hydraulic traverse to rotate its turret onto her Char B1. "Enemy fire, 3 o' clock!"

The crew barely responded before an explosion rang from the Sherman, but

nothing happened to their tank. Dianne traversed her turret so the front faced towards the Sherman. She viewed through the front vision port and saw a white flag flying on the Sherman turret, some smoke coming from behind the profile on the left hull side. Beyond the Sherman, Dianne could see tanks from her neighboring platoon, Renault R35 infantry tanks.

"Platoon D has arrived, capitaine!" Katy said.

"I can see that, Katy! Get on the radio and get everyone else here! The whole goddamn enemy team is in our sector!"

"What?!" Katy cried back in the middle of the machine gun fire, still going _Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud-thud_. Dianne did not hear her. Katy tugged on Dianne's pants. "WHAT?!"

"Get. Our. Team. Here!" Dianne said to Katy's face. Noise still sounded on the tanks as machine gun fire continue to rattle the tank, numbing their senses and disorienting them inside the tank.

Katy went back to her perilous and intensive work as Dianne went back to her cupola. The three remaining Shermans shifted their attention from the Char B1 to the new threat on their side. They seemed sluggish, while powerful the Chinese were too focused on specific targets rather than dividing the workload.

Though their attention on the R35 is a threat. The R35 only had 40 mm of armor in the front along with a pitiful 37 mm gun, not the same power as the early German anti-tank gun, but the same 37 mm the French used on the FT tanks in the first World War. Outdated crap that was useful only on armor thickness of interwar tanks around 30 mm, but may as well be a peashooter to the Sherman's front armor.

Dianne watched another R35 get blown away by a 75 mm shot. She prepared to fire another shot at the Sherman when a shot clanged from the front left side off her turret. She looked towards her left cupola port and saw a T-26 just coming down the hill. Her attention towards the hill had been deficient and much had transpired just from taking attention to the Shermans. Disabled tanks now decorated the downhill slope of the hill. The ones close by were scattered CV-33 tankettes and Panzer Is with flags up, their crew still inside to avoid being hit in the crossfire. The sight of a Panzer I made Dianne rather nauseated as her hearing got together and she realized that her atmosphere was still covered with the impacts of machine gun bullets. A small impact on her tank side and she realized that the machine gun-armed tank was still on her sides, annoying the ever-loving hell of the crew!

The tanks closed in as the 75 mm continue spouting out shells directly at its front, the tank traversed slightly to the left and right to deal with incoming threats. Dianne's 47 mm was focused onto the sides of one of the Shermans. At this distance, the one and a half inch of armor on the side is still vulnerable against the 47 mm. She fired a round and the shot landed on an angle on the Sherman cast armor side, deflecting off into the ground. The Sherman seemed to have taken attention as its turret and hull was suddenly turning to its aggressor. The 75 mm bore size of the gun was a lot bigger when that dark hole was looking straight at its target, and the front armor is angled straight at them, no shots available for even a glance at the side armor.

 _Putain de merde_

Then an intruding shell landed straight onto the Sherman's front armor. The surprising part was the Sherman sputtered from that hit, and a white flag emerged from a port on the front hull. No 47 mm gun could do that.

"Capitaine!" Katy cried out. "Fire Brigade B and Platoon B has arrived on our 9 o'clock!"

Dianne finally found it inside her to crack a smile. Platoon B was their "breakthrough" unit, and thus they were armed with the most intimidating vehicle in De Gaulle Tank School's inventory.

Armed with a 75 mm M1897 gun on a turret on the front with a crew of twelve, the lumbering beast made the Char B1 look like a duckling. Its armor was nothing to write home about, only 45 mm at the front, but with its height of 4 meters, width of 3 meters, and length of 10.3 meters, combined with its statistical weight of 69 tons, one can be forgiven for thinking the Char 2C was a "super" tank.

The three Char 2C making up Platoon B were supported by five SOMUA S35 by fire brigade B. They charged towards Dianne's sector, firing away at the enemy tanks still charging. The remaining two Sherman and its crew, in a state of panic, fired their rounds at the gigantic Char 2C, but the rounds only hit haphazardly around the Char 2C on the ground. The Char 2C's M1897 gun, of which the Sherman's own 75 mm M3 gun ammunition were from, fired rounds into the Sherman. One more hit and another Sherman was knocked out.

A close round landed with authority outside the tank on her right side and made a large metallic _CRUNCH_. Moments later, Dianne felt light-headed, but euphoric. The machine gun rattling had ended!

As she traversed the turret, she shouted out. "All tanks, push forward with the attack! Maneuver and annihilate each and every one of them!"

Katy relayed the order via radio with enthusiasm, the tide changing. The remaining Nankai tanks in front of them seem reluctant to continue. They were cut down under 37 and 47 mm fire, and some unfortunate ones with the 75 mm. Dianne loaded up her 47 mm and took a shot at the last remaining Sherman on the side. This round hit squarely on the Sherman as it was turning to face the Char 2C, disabling it once and for all. Disabled hulks of BT-7, BT-5, T-26, Panzer I, CV-33, and Shermans littered the field now, once serene and now a battlefield.

But their job wasn't over with. "Keep moving! We have to find their flag tank!" Dianne ordered, which Katy relayed. Dianne got up over her cupola, her delicates hitting the cupola edge once more with great annoyance, and she used her hands to signal the nearby tanks to charge forwards. Her platoon, now only three Char B1 with one more lost in the crossfire, beginning to lurch forward back over the hill they momentarily retreated from. _We win this round, we'll be one round closer to fighting the Legend!_

* * *

 **Tank Field - Ōarai's Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho's sneeze came out and echoed inside the Panzer IV.

"Gesundheit," Hana said, still keeping her eye in the Panzer IV's gun optics.

"Thanks…" Miho replied in the loader's position, giving Saori the break she needed. Hana fired another round downrange at targets in the distance. Long distance fighting was the training of the hour, with moving targets at the distance to practice leading. Miho loaded the next round, but not until after she watched the shell land squarely onto the moving target's center mass.

"Nice shot, Hana! Just as always!" Saori commented, viewing through the MG 34 optic at her position. Hana silently smirked as the gun breech closed up with a round chambered, and Hana fired again.

" _Hey, Captain!"_ Someone on the radio reported straight to the Panzer IV. The tone of voice implied a Pravda student.

Before Miho could answer, Saori got it first. "This is Anglerfish, who is this?"

" _Rotation is up for you bunch, next group of us are to take the range now._ "

Miho climbed back into the commander's position when Saori replied, "Roger that, make room for us. Out!"

Miho connected herself back to the crew comms as she got comfortable. "Okay Mako, reverse now."

"Roger," Mako boredly complied as the Panzer IV engine revved up and reversed out. Miho saw behind the tanks were a couple Eastern tanks. some T-34-85s from Pravda and the KV-1 from Continuation along with the BT-42. Mika was on top of her BT-42 playing her kantele. What goes on in that girl's mind is quite a mystery.

The Panzer IV backed out to the usual gathering of tanks on the pavement that were on breaks. Mechanics were busy at work to maintain the tanks, especially tracks. Tracks were the main trait of the tanks, and they all have small mileage before needing replaced. The Panzer IV parked itself next to Rabbit team's M3 Lee.

"Hi Miho!" They waved at Miho when they saw their commander stick out of the cupola. Miho waved back with courtesy as she exited the Panzer IV and stretched out her limbs. Spend a few minutes hustled down in the loader's position throwing 25 pound rounds into the gun breech does things to the muscle.

"I'm going to go check on Yukari now, okay?" Miho told her crew.

"Be careful," Hana said back. "Look both ways before walking onto the markings!"

"I know!" Miho said as she went off. The issue of traffic has been mitigated by having painted markers and orange cones placed on the concrete. Now tanks were restricted to certain areas as to not be allowed to run nilly-willy. It may congest traffic, but it made a pedestrian life in front of the tank garages safer.

Another addition was the large concrete road blocks placed at the same time as the markers. Added in a parallel to the opening of the garage and perpendicular to the direction towards the tank field, they lined up layered in two sets in front of the garages, forming a rather large L shape from the air and with gaps in the center of each stroke for tanks to enter and exit their garages.

It was done on the recommendation of Emma. "Provides cover," she says, At 42 inches, it was certainly a tall piece of concrete to have. A girl could take cover behind it if she needed to. All these changes to the field were done by the Ōarai carrier's transport committee, the material on "lease" until otherwise. The student council were reluctant on adding such surplus items with their funding, but it was done.

"Hello Miho!" Anzu mentioned for her while on top of the Jagdpanzer 38(t)'s gun mantlet. On the roof of the tank destroyer, Momo and Yuzu had laptops opened as they seemed to be doing their administrative businesses.

"Prez!" Miho went closer to the Jagdpanzer 38(t). "How are you all?"

"We're doing great!" Anzu said as she threw in another sweet potato into her mouth, "and you?"

"Just taking a small stroll," Miho said over a diesel engine as a T-34-85 rattled past her.

"Good, good. Hey, you know we just passed Greenland on the longitude measurement a while ago?"

"No?" Miho hasn't been keeping up with the school carrier positioning on Earth.

"It's alright, we're just a day away from entering the mouth of the English Channel… again."

"That means we still have three days after we reached the destination…" Miho thought.

"Maybe we'll finally have some free time to finally do some sight-seeing?" Miho pondered.

"Maybe!" Anzu waved about a sweet potato. "Just prepare for the upcoming match! You wouldn't be slacking off, right?"

"N-no!" Miho insisted.

"Fight on!"

"Prez… can you please help us?" Yuzu pleaded their president.

"Okay, okay," Anzu said, "after this."

Miho moved on as Anzu continued chewing on a sweet potato.

On the good ol' dirt firing range for the small arms, the girls are adjusting to the addition of a concrete barrier, the same kind lined up in front of the garages, for practice on their usage in combat. Indeed, some of the American instructors are teaching some Pravda students how to effectively use cover and engage.

"You can't just spray bullets all over from behind cover," Kyline said to the girls. "If you don't end up hitting the damn thing, well… it makes you look like an ass. You've got to pick your targets by deliberately aiming down your sights."

Kyline then got low under the concrete barrier, taking a Thompson into her hand. "When you're down here, try not to fire at the enemy from over the barrier." She got up over the barrier with a knee stance, showing her Thompson barrel over the barrier. "See this? I'm exposing most of my upper body over the barrier." She got back down under. "Now, if I come out over the side of the barrier…" Kyline then pushed out over the sides, trying not to get higher than the barrier. Her Thompson barrel rested on the side of the concrete. "See? Like this, my whole front is still protected, and I can engage targets effectively still. Keep that in mind when you practice today, either way works, but it comes to your preference on how fast you want a bullet between your eye."

Kyline got back up. "Also, normally in terms of ballistic, we'd worry about light cover like bullets punching through wood. Unfortunately with these rubber bullets, penetration is out of the question. Think of it like… airsoft. Any of you played airsoft?" Kyline asked and some girls raised their hands. "Okay, so don't try to shoot enemy hiding behind some planks like in a videogame, our rubber bullet won't do much so always try to aim at their exposed parts. Alright, you try now."

Kyline handed the Thompson back to an unarmed girl. Miho looked at the range and still saw girls firing away, trying too. After hours of being cooped up inside a tank, a nice practice with their own marksmanship without the expense of a Sensha-dou tank shell can be quite cathartic. However, two figure on the prone position were quite distinctive. Both had woodland camouflage, though one had darker and larger brown splotches while the other was smaller and more blended in a lighter tone. Their firearms also stood out, both held the M1 Garand.

 _BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM-PING!_

The firing of the American rifles followed by the ejection of the metal clip came as the girls fired at their white, square, paper targets. Their rounds made distinctive _PIQ_ noises as it tore through the paper. The girl on the left with the lighter camouflage, Isabelle, held her rifle at a rest while the girl in the darker camouflage was still aiming. She wasn't done. Firing two more rounds, the metal clip came out.

"Took you long enough," Isabelle said amidst the noise.

"Go to hell."

Isabelle didn't and she pulled out a binocular towards her target. Emma also did so.

"Looks like I won this contest," Isabelle said to Emma, putting down her binocular. Emma just stared back at the American with a stare of contempt. "Hey, don't look at me like that, you wanted this."

"Yeah, but I literally just touched this rifle yesterday," Emma pointed to her Garand, still pointed down range for safety. "Give me an Enfield and I'll show you a 'mad-minute'!"

"Yeah? Well if you think familiarization with a gun is a translation of a skill, look at that girl." Isabelle pointed to Naomi on their right, who have made residence on the ground with them. She chewed her gum as she aimed down the scope on a M1903A4 Springfield rifle, a specialized rifle taken from Saunders inventory under their stacks and stacks of Thompsons and carbines. She fired a shot, the .30-06 round flew downrange to a paper target on her lane. She calmly cycled the bolt as the brass case rested alongside two other casing on the ground near Naomi. Three shots, and Isabelle looked down the range with her binoculars.

"Three shots, one hole," Isabelle commented, meaning all the rounds landed close enough to have the punctured holes close enough to constitute one large hole. "Quite an accuracy for someone who just picked up the rifle yesterday."

Naomi did not make any comment to her attention, only popping her gum balloon before focusing back to the target.

Still, all that bantering, contesting, and comparing didn't give Miho the answer she needed. "Hello Isabelle,"

"Hmm?" Isabelle looked back at the Legend. "Oh, hello Miho."

"Where is Yukari?" Miho noted Yukari was nowhere near these two cadets.

"She's hiking about in the tank field with Hawkins."

"What? Why?" Miho asked.

"Practicing outdoor skills for scouting," Isabelle said. She stood up, checking her M1 Garand. "Gonna need it when you're not in an installation."

Miho looked out onto the tank field. With everyone practicing and everything, Yukari was out there?

* * *

"Doesn't seem like anyone noticed us," Hawkins said as she got out of her prone position onto her knee. She was in a gear akin to that of a paratrooper, wearing a reproduction M1942 paratrooper uniform of US, the large pockets on her uniform front making it most distinctive even through the load-bearing gear she was wearing.

Yukari, just by her side, got out with a gasp as if she was underwater. Her suit was nothing similar to Hawkins'. "Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Why not?" Hawkins stood up, looking out of the collection of trees they were under at the field. "It's a good practice on how to travel across open plains with enemy patrolling all over."

"But with everyone shooting their cannon shells…" Yukari was heavily concerned about that part.

"The tank commanders have to deal with that problem ever since someone thought sticking their heads out of the cupola gave the best vision. This is not too different," Hawkins came down to Yukari. Her webbed helmet was covered with branches of tree leaves and grasses that she nearly blended into the ground. Yukari and Hawkins both have painted face to hide their relatively bright skin on the ground.

Yukari looked around, concerned of incoming tanks that might blow them to kingdom come. Hawkins grabbed Yukari by the chin. "C'mon girl, you're a scout now! You'll be fine. You need to get used to that suit before the day anyways, best way to practice is to use it."

Yukari felt her suit again. It was better than the Mark I at Britain, it was camouflaged in a similar pattern to Isabelle's standard uniform instead of just black, it fitted with her skin more comfortably, and in all respect felt like it was in a better quality than the previous one. The rubber padding was also rather comfortable and confidently diminishing the sound of her footsteps. Then there were the other gears in Yukari's belt that she hasn't used yet, but have been briefed on already.

"Okay, looks clear," Hawkins said, after looking out once more. "We'll be moving from here to that set of trees over there."

"What?" Yukari looked out at the tree Hawkins is pointing. It was a modest form of concealment, the problem is that the distance was about 300 meters apart, and they were traveling on foot.

"Remember, don't be seen by the others. They're out practicing and we're in a rather unused area, just be careful."

"What if I get run over?!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Live a little!" Hawkins grinned. Yukari couldn't rebut before she ran out into the open, staying low before getting rather low on the plain. Yukari thought it was unfair before running out, following Hawkins. By all means, sticking close to an instructor would serve better than going solo for now.

Yukari crawled, keeping up with Hawkins as she gave advices. How to move while crawling, how to do so to conceal movement, and more other stuff Yukari took in almost mind-absently.

"Are you listening, Yukari?" Hawkins asked.

"Okay."

Hawkins paused and kicked up dirt at Yukari's direction. "You listening?"

"Oh! Sorry…"

"Don't lose attention, you need to keep situational awareness. There could be a sniper for all you know."

"Right…" Yukari said as Hawkins continued crawling. Yukari followed, moving closer to their destination. "Hey, uh, Hawkins?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you flying us to Suvorov again?"

"No," Hawkins responded bluntly. "You'll be taking a commercial plane to your destination."

"Huh?" Yukari asked. "How are we going to do that?"

"I dunno, ask Isabelle. She planned the whole thing out," Hawkins continued crawling. "It's just more convenient than to fly a military helicopter onto their airspace… and probably safer."

Yukari couldn't help but think of the complications on getting all the necessary gear for the scouting into Russia for the scouting in a military school. She decided to leave that thinking to the experts.

"Hey Hawkins?" Yukari started again, "if you're so good, why don't you help me with the scouting procedure? I think we could work together well, don't you think?"

Hawkins paused and looked back at Yukari, "I appreciate the thought, Yukari. Imay look good doing this stuff, but I'm no good in scouting."

"Why not?" Yukari asked.

"Let's just say no one and the Chinese were happy when they found little ol' me in the middle of their school," Hawkins said dryly. "I'm just not cut out like you. You managed to successfully sneak into a military installation and get out without much of a scratch. I got caught in a situation and got dropped from the armored unit of the cadets."

"Oh…" Yukari didn't expect to hear that. She tried to boost the mood, "You can always have another chance…"

"I wish, Yukari, but being a cadet has more restrictions than a schoolgirl. The flexibility you're experiencing now is going to be quite limited and unforgiving when you grow up." Hawkins got back to a crawl, "Trust me on that, you'll end up more sane that way."

"Yes ma'am."

Hawkins made a small huff of amusement, "Just call me Hawkins. I don't need that from you. C'mon, keep moving."

"Okay!" Yukari said as the two continued scattering across the entire tank field.

* * *

The sun was setting before Yukari left the tank field. Hawkins and Yukari walked out of the dirt onto the concrete together. The whole team had already cleaned up their deed, all the tanks packed away. All that was left were the six people still standing on the field.

"Uh oh, looks like we're late," Hawkins meekly made note of the empty status of the garage area.

Yukari thought so too. She spent so much time out there she lost track of time. She mentally beat down herself for not figuring those tanks they saw earlier were definitely moving out of the field.

They approached the waiting figure in the shade and made them out. The two senior cadet instructors and Anglerfish.

"Hey sarge," Hawkins said as the two got closer to the figure.

"You had fun out there?" Isabelle said dryly, "Hope you actually were teaching her."

"Well… that's something that only she'll be able to tell."

"Hmm," Isabelle seemed skeptic. "Well Yukari? Did you learn?"

Yukari, with her face paint-covered with her suit dirty from all the crawling around with mother nature, sported a grin that had her white teeth shone past the grittiness of her look. "I did! It was great!"

Isabelle analyzed Yukari, Emma gave a funny look as well. Yukari was just trying to get out of this interrogation towards her friends.

"Well, frankly. The only way we'd tell is on how you'll perform in your scouting adventure, so stay ready for that," Isabelle finally said.

"R-right!" Yukari replied.

"Alright fluffball, dismissed," Isabelle finally said before walking off to deal with Hawkins.

Yukari now faced her team. "Eh, sorry I couldn't help a lot today girls…"

"Oh no, no, Yukari. That's okay," Miho clarified their stance here. "Are you alright though? We heard you were out there on the tank field, and you were out there for a long time."

"Hmm? Oh! I'm okay, Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari was bright when she smiled quite brightly at them.

"Will you be alright when you go out on your mission?" Miho asked. "I don't want you to be too tired before you set off, do you even know when you're going?!"

"No worries, Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari eased her. "I'm all ready for it, a quick dose in the baths will clean me up real good!"

"You know, Yukari," Saori said to her right. "You should take it easy before you go regardless. I don't want you getting hurt on the way to your next destination!"

"But I'm fine, really," Yukari insisted.

"Don't work yourself too hard," Hana said. "Even in flower arrangement, it is common practice to not spend too much time on one tedious task."

"It's nice to nap once in awhile," Mako threw in her lot.

"Thanks Mako, Hana, Saori, Nishizumi-dono," Yukari addressed each of Anglerfish team, "but I'm really feeling alright and excited! I'm ready to do what I've been doing the last few days all over again!

"Okay…" Miho said in concern, but if Yukari said she was good. Well, sometimes a person is the best judge of their own condition. "Just make sure you get a good night's sleep, okay?"

"I will!" Yukari excitingly said, "but… I would kill for a bath now…" Yukari muttered eagerly.

"With everything you've been through," Saori said. "I'm scared that you could actually kill."

"What? Nah, I can't possibly completely incapacitate someone," Yukari passed off the remark.

"Just saying… no other schoolgirls are like you two."

"Hmm? Me too?" Miho gestured towards herself.

"Well, it's mostly because of you two that we're all even where we are, don't you think?" Saori said. "We all have our part, but you Miho, nothing in all this could've happened without you."

Miho thought about it, "Yeah… sometimes life just happens when we try to live normally."

"I think so too!" Yukari said, "but I think you should have more credit Nishizumi-dono! All my knowledge on tanks are nothing without your guidance and inspiration!"

"Heh, I'm glad I could be of help," Miho said, trying to downplay it though, "but you should all be proud of your own achievements. Whether I am here or not, all of our efforts will helped us win our past battles, and can help us win this tournament!"

Yukari and the other girls brightened up on that note. It's nice to be appreciated.

"Speaking of tournament…" Saori cut in, "Did you hear about today's match, Yukari?"

"Uh, who was it again?" Yukari asked, forgetting that the tournament had a match on this day. It was a very busy day.

"It was De Gaulle Tank Shool against Nankai High School. The match was quite chaotic on both sides, but De Gaulle managed to win. Though, the commentary seemed to talk a lot about the organizational difficulty the French team had."

"Yeah… those French tanks can be quite a pain inside," Miho reminiscence.

"How? They're armor is quite tough for their time!" Saori questioned.

"But they only have a one-man turret! The commander has to command and fire at the same time, it's almost impossible to manage all that efficiently!" Yukari answered.

"Well, that makes our Panzer IV look even better, doesn't it?" Saori asked. "Man, there were so many weird designs back then!"

"Tell me about it," Miho said, almost rolling her eyes at some certain designs of the past.

"We can talk about it in the baths!" Yukari shouted. "C'mon! We're only a few blocks away from the baths!"

Miho couldn't help but giddy. A bath was something they all could use now. "All in favor?" Miho asked.

"Yeah!" Saori and Hana unanimously agreed, with Mako going with an "oi".

* * *

 **Well that was a short Hiatus :P**

 **I wanted to get straight into the next bit of my story, but I realized that with the days Ōarai has to get to their destination, I didn't really want to waste those days to simple text boxes explaining what happened like "First day passed, nothing out of the ordinary happened". Thus I composed this chapter for it as a "prelude" to the main event.**

 **French tanks are chaotic and you have to pity the commander who has to observe, fire gun, and load gun. At least he/she didn't have to manage the radio as well… on most designs. I really debated if I should add the ARL-44 for the French, but the prototype model was cutting so close to the end of the war, and thus the end date for acceptable vehicles in Sensha-dou, and I didn't want to risk including an "illegal" vehicle in the match. Besides, why NOT a Char 2C?**

 **One big thing that affected the story writing was that I used the Char B1 wikipedia page (bear with me) for initial research, it had an image of a Char B1 with a split-hatch cupola on top, so I wrote it in the story. Then I picked up Zaloga's book on** _ **Char B1 vs. Panzer IV**_ **and I saw that the cupola had no hatches! I was like "WTF?" so I researched it and yes, ordinary Char B1 bis had no hatches on the cupola! The top picture on wikipedia for the Char B1 bis is one for a CAPTURED Char B1 that's been upgraded by the GERMANS. And this is what happens when you rely too much on one thing without checking it! And I realize this is my most stupid mistake yet because MALLARD TEAM HAS A CHAR B1 bis THAT IS CORRECTLY MODELED. #!% (Pardon my French) Anyways, it took a while to rewrite that.**

 **Chinese tanks are due to importation they had in World War II. Axis Panzer I and CV-33 at the beginning, Russian BT and T-26 around then too, then with American Stuarts and Shermans toward the end. They also captured a bunch of Japanese tanks, so I added that as well. It's a mix.**

 **As always, t** **hanks for reading my story and my new chapter! Feel free to Follow and Favorite the story if you enjoy my story (or I put it into an unofficial and extra-short hiatus)! Don't be afraid to drop a review as well!**

 **Also, if you want to see the chapter I put up for April Fools, its in my story forum.**

 **I hope I see you all next time!**

 _ **Trivia:** **In China, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan, for instance, there is a superstition that if talking behind someone's back causes the person being talked about to sneeze.**_


	19. D Minus Two

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 19: D Minus Two**

On the third day since they departed for the English Channel and with two days left until the match, the majority of the Ōarai Sensha-dou students groaned as they awoke on a weekend. A request sent by the Student Council on email to arrive at the tank field for continued training, not many looked forward to spending a precious weekend morning there. The sentiment is not shared by all as Miho, Saori, Hana, and Mako, were ready to walk to the field like any other day.

"Miporin? Are you okay?" Saori said with one of Mako's arm over her left shoulder. Their clothes in the dark blue blouse of their tanker uniform. "You look just as bad as Mako…"

"Hmm?" Miho shaked her head as she reacted to Saori. "I'm fine…"

"Miporin, I'm right here."

"Huh?" Miho turned her head to the other side, "Oh, hi Saori."

"Geez, Miporin! You're not really yourself these days…"

"Yeah…" Miho conceded to her ailment. "I'm didn't really sleep well last few nights…"

"Perhaps you should take the day off?" Hana suggested to the wobbly Miho Nishizumi.

"No, no, I can't just do that…"

"You should take a break, Miporin…" Saori insisted. "The match is coming up soon, and I'd rather you be well rested than stay sleep-deprived."

"I know…" Miho acknowledged. "Maybe I'll leave early, but I need to see how we are before that."

Hana and Saori, the two dragging the half-asleep Mako, still look worriedly at Miho. As the brain of the entire Ōarai compound team, her well-being is not only for her own health, but the whole team's efforts in the tournament. "If you ever feel like it Miporin, take a break, we have the instructors and all the other team captains that can help manage the whole team during practice."

"I will, Saori. Don't worry about me."

"It's when you say that, that I worry…"

Miho couldn't help but grin at Saori and Hana's concern for her.

"Do you think Yukari is waiting for us at the field?" Miho asked, trying to divert the topic.

"I would suspect so. She's got that mission that Isabelle wants to send her through, right?" Hana thought back.

"Was it today? We only got two days until the match!" Saori commented.

"Y'all all noissssssyyyyyyy," Mako stirred from her light slumber on Saori's shoulder.

"Sorry Mako," Hana politely apologized to the lethargic girl. She then had an interest to the atmosphere. "It's actually quite noisy around here, isn't it?" Hana asked as they were only a block away from the school.

"Yeah… it is…" Mako stirred a bit, somewhat irritated from the noise. "Mechanical engines…"

"Sounds like a helicopter…" Miho said, before realizing what exactly it is, "Wait, are they leaving?! Let's hurry!"

"Wait Miporin!"

* * *

On the large paved plaza in front of the garages, activity ranged from all sides. On the side closer to the other school's tank garage, the Saunders students were eager and opening large cargo boxes that was very new to Ōarai. On the other side, closer to the school's own garages, the Blackhawk helicopter was warming up. Kyline was outside watching the affair play out when Miho and the others got closer.

"Whoa girls, not too close! We're running diagnostics here!" Kyline blocked the Anglerfish team's path, shouting over the engine noises.

"S-sorry! We thought Yukari was just about to leave!" Miho yelled back.

"Well, she got here early," Kyline said closer to Miho. "But she's with the sergeant now. Going through a debriefing before they go."

"Where are they now?" Miho asked.

"I'm afraid I can't have you interrupt them," Kyline regretfully said. "But you can wait about, you'll notice them when they come out. They're leaving in about 30 minutes!"

"Okay, thanks!" Miho and her friends backed away from the helicopter's loud operation. They could see Hawkins and Alisa inside operating the components.

"At least we came in time…" Hana said over the noise. "We'll be able to see Yukari off and give her our best wishes."

"She'll be going to Russia, right?" Saori recalled their opponent and what's in stake. "I hope she'll be alright."

Miho couldn't help but also be bothered. Russia was a far away place, if something was to happen with Yukari… she…

"Looks like Saunders got some interesting stuff…" Mako absentmindedly mentioned. To the distance, Saunders got some large wooden crates hanging outside their garage. Assumed to be Saunders' crate due to the large white shield with blue star sticker on the crates.

"Why don't we check on them while we wait for Yukari, Miporin?" Saori nudged towards Miho.

"Yeah, best check to see if they got anything new for the tournament."

As the got closer, the large wooden boxes seemed to have gotten bigger, exponentially. A fork-lift vehicle came and dropped off another box as they made their way over. Some were huge cubes, others were very long and rectangular, others were just large flat boxes, though the last had an obligatory warning of an orange diamond-shaped sign labeling _EXPLOSIVES_.

"Must be fun stuff," Mako commented, now standing on her own two legs.

Most of the Saunder girls were present, with the exception of Alisa in the Blackhawk. Kay, the most energetic of the girls present, with her standard jacket wrapped around her waist and her black t-shirt showing her arms, she had propped herself on one of the long boxes with a crowbar ready to open it. Before any of the girls could react, a _R-R-K-KRACK_ sound occurred as the crowbar's force detached the nailed together wooden panels of the box. Only on one section, so Kay moved on to the other half to free it from its spiky restraint.

"Momo would have a fit if that was bought with our money…" Saori casually commented with Miho while watching the girls do their deed.

"Only Saunders could afford this kind of logistics..." Miho added.

"With their Super Galaxy carrying tanks, their quick upgrade into the Jumbos, establishment of a dedicated maintenance crew on Ōarai, and asset in our numbers, sometimes I wonder what Saunders can't do…"

"Yukari did say that Saunders could field up to three Sensha-dou teams, right?" Hana recalled. "Even with the maximum amount of tanks from the National Tournaments, that's 60 tanks at their disposal."

"Keeping to the M4s help," Mako added into the conversation.

Their conversation was interrupted by another _K-KRACK_ as Kay used her monstrous strength to tear open a box with the explosive warning. Some of the first-year Saunder girls flinched when they saw their commander open the dangerous box with impunity. She looked inside and seemed satisfied. She pulled out a round, a tank round. The one she pulled out had a blazoned black tip on the end, one that showed power and density.

"HVAP…" Mako replied, making out their shape.

"Wow, you can see the shape from here?" Saori asked, the tip looked just like any tip from their perspective.

"APCR ammunition?" Miho noted. Quite a firepower improvement Saunder is taking in. But… what were in the larger cargo boxes? "Let's go check it out," Miho in a spirit of curiosity sprinted off.

"W-wait! Miporin!"

Miho got there just as the girls opened one of the larger cubed box available. The sides basically fell open as the nail's resistance opened up to the crowbars. The content was wrapped in a form of filling and cushion in the box, and the Saunder girls moved about to remove the extra filler.

"Oh hey, Miho~!" Kay waved towards the approaching Ōarai students. "Care to join us?"

"I think I'm good from here," Miho politely declined as Kay got closer. "What's that you got?"

"Oh this? A significant makeover in our current composition!" Her bare-skin right arm went around Miho's neck and shoulders as she pointed towards the content with the crowbar in her left arm. "Feast your eyes on…!"

Kay paused for dramatic effects as the Saunder girls finally removed the last layer of shipping protection on the item. Miho saw the OD green color of the item, but didn't recognize it at first. Then she realized it was because it was lacking the protruding barrel that would normally come with the item.

"A turret…?" Saori piped up as she saw the piece of machine.

"Not just any turret…" Miho added, "the T23 turret."

"The Nishizumi blood runs strong in this one!" Kay excitedly rumbled along with the correct answer.

"Then… that means those long boxes contains…" Miho put it together.

"76 mm M1 guns! Straight from our school money and the British store! Combine that with the HVAP ammunition, we'll give a bigger punch than any of our 75 mm can!"

"Looks like you've got a few more 76 mm than turrets though…" Hana analyzed.

"We could just slip the barrel and breech onto the Jumbo's turrets, it's already a T23 turret derivative!" Kay resumed. "Tell you what, Miho, we'll give a better shot than our performance the last two matches."

"That's great, Kay!" Miho enthusiastically agrees, though deep inside, she wondered if that 90 mm conversion for the Shermans was legal for use. "I just hope it'll be enough against the Russians…"

"Also, we've got a couple of new MGs coming from the same store, they're arriving later today. Not sure we need too many, so I just asked for a couple on the Shermans. We'll convert them little by little to the 76 mm before the matches, just in case we need any of the 75 mm still."

"Why would we still need the puny 75 mm?" Saori asked. "We're fighting tanks here, not buildings!"

"Well, the 75 mm could fire more specialized ammunition, like the smoke rounds," Miho thought about it.

"We've only barely used our stock though! We only used them in the desert against the Americans! Are we really gonna be using them?"

"Can't be too careful," Kay shrugged it off. "We'll get to work on it real soon!"

Kay went off towards her team as Miho was left wondering what the ideal composition of 75 mm to 76 mm should be, if there even should be a ratio.

"Nishizumi-dono?"

A familiar voice called from behind, piercing through the ambient noises of the helicopter and the Saunder team. Miho looked behind to see her good friend and teammate. "Good morning, Yukari," She said with a smile.

"Uh, ah, good morning to you too, Nishizumi-dono! Everyone!" Yukari stumbled about. "What are you all doing here?"

"We originally came here for morning practice, but we also want to see you off!" Saori chimed in. "Are you really leaving for Russia?"

"Yep!" Yukari said, somewhat happily.

"The helicopter is going to take you all the way?" Mako looked at it with skepticism.

"No, we'll be taking commercial airline. The helicopter is just taking us to the Charles De Gaulle international airport."

"That place is a thing?" Saori asked, remembering that there's a school named "De Gaulle Tank School" over there. "Boy, this De Gaulle person must be very famous…"

"He's a famous soldier in France who fought in World War I, World War II, and even took presidency in the 60s!" Yukari explained, exasperated.

"Why didn't you say so?!" Saori almost shot her hands up.

"Still, you're going quite casually," Hana commented on Yukari's fashion. A tomboy-style of clothing on her with jeans and a green and white striped shirt. "I hope you've got your equipment."

"Yep, Isabelle is holding most of them for the trip. Says it makes transport easier or something. I've got the suit in my pack here," Yukari gestured to her favorite backpack.

"Did you tell your parents you'll be gone for a while?" Miho asked.

"Well, I told her I was going on a trip like I did for Saunders all the while back then…" Yukari said, "but I didn't really tell them much past that… I didn't want to worry them too much, y'see…"

Miho understood. If her mother had the same anxiety as Miho had now knowing what Yukari was about to go through, she'd probably have a fit. That didn't make anything any easier though… "Listen Yukari, if you get caught out there alone, it'll be very, very hard to explain to your parents…"

"I know, I know…"

"So make sure you don't, okay?" Miho reassured Yukari. "Stay by Isabelle's side. She's essentially your commanding officer out there. Don't do anything stupid just because you made it against the 3rd RTR cadets."

"Don't worry Nishizumi-dono, I'll stay safe."

"Yeah! You better!" A squeaky voice came from a high up above them.

"Katyusha, Nonna, Klara, good morning!" Miho greeted the Pravda students. Katyusha on Nonna's shoulders with Klara standing by them. A small number of their team is also with them.

"Ready to leave, Yukari?" Nonna asked the girl with the mission.

"Yes, Nonna, we're just about to go soon."

"Understood. I'm afraid it's time to get off, Ms. Katyusha," Nonna said to her passenger.

Katyusha pouted on top of Nonna's head. "Alright… Klara!"

Klara stood right behind Nonna as Katyusha climbed off Nonna's shoulder and fell back, right onto Klara's shoulders. Nonna walked free from Katyusha's burden. "You better take care of Nonna out there, okay?!"

"Huh? Nonna is coming with you?" Miho asked Yukari.

"Yeah, Nonna and Klara are the only two here that know Russian. Nonna volunteered to come along."

"It's an opportunity to see Russia's culture hands-on. Though Ōarai's interests comes first," Nonna pitched in.

"You all would be surprised by what Russia have there these days," Klara said to the girls. "Do not underestimate the people and the military, American Hollywood won't show you their true self."

"I'll find out when I get there then," Yukari stated, smiling eagerly as she was about to go into an unpredictable situation.

"Alright you girls," Isabelle approached the group. "We're leaving in ten. Need to get to the airport on time to catch the flight, so we're leaving right on the dot. Don't wait up."

"Roger that, Sarge!" Yukari playfully saluted.

"Affirmative Ms. Bradley," Nonna replied stoically to the American.

Isabelle took a moment to look up to Nonna, still grasping on Nonna's height before looking back towards the helicopter. "Well, I'll leave you two be until then. Ten minutes!"

Isabelle left the girls be, though they all saw each other with internal dread on their separation.

"Be safe okay, Yukari?" Saori said in a cheerful and encouraging tone.

"Don't let your oppositions slow you down," Hana said.

"Fight on," Mako said.

"Thanks you three," Yukari said before looking towards Miho.

Miho could only smile in an expression only translated through the camaraderie the group has all been through the last year. "Don't do anything stupid."

Yukari almost chuckled as she saluted off to Miho, before departing towards her ride.

Nonna was still saying her goodbyes. Though, it was more like Katyusha doing so as she seemingly clung to her from atop Klara like it would be the last time. Nonna slowly patted Katyusha's head, comforting the girl like she was a preschooler watching her mother leave and left into the care of a nanny.

Still, Yukari went past them and approached the Blackhawk, its rotors spinning as it nears it readies its take-off procedure.

"Hello, Guderian," Isabelle said as Yukari entered the helicopter.

"You got my nickname from the history group?" Yukari asked nonchalantly as she found a seat and put on a headset that blocked out the loud noises and connected her to the intercom system.

"Yes, they're a peculiar and interesting group to be around," Isabelle's voice came through the headset as Yukari buckled herself down. The rotor blades whirled, beating the air for a few moments before Nonna came about. Despite her height, the helicopter's cabin was large enough that her head did not touch the roof when she sat down.

"Ready to go?" Isabelle asked once more.

"Ready!" Yukari replied.

"Da," Nonna simply responded as she put on the headset.

"Hawkins, you're clear for liftoff."

* * *

The Blackhawk helicopter lifted off ground, Kyline in front helping the process with glowing flight sticks. At a sufficient height, the helicopter yawed forward, moving off the ship on the starboard side, towards France.

The girls watched the black spot in the sky disappear in the morning sky before all that was heard was the crash of waves and the crack of wood.

"Katyusha, do you need a handkerchief?" Saori asked to Pravda's commander.

"I-I'm not crying! What makes you think that?!" Katyusha shouted from atop, thrashing her arms.

Klara held steady, her face was as stale as Nonna's, but a small grin of enjoyment sprouted on the edges of her lips, and in her eyes.

Miho looked up, as if waiting for the helicopter to come back down, bringing its occupants back to where it was safe. She sighed, wishing them the best of luck amidst an gnawing feeling of uncertainty.

Her eyes, felt heavy. Her body, ached. Miho suddenly had a wave of fatigue run over her.

"Miho!"

"Miporin!"

Her three Anglerfish teammates cried as Miho felt gravity pull her, with her friends catching her before she could collapse.

"I'm sorry…" Miho sluggishly said as she got back to footing. She tried to shake her disorientation away, but it lingered. Everyone was checking on her, even Kay, Katyusha, and Kyline.

"You okay?" Kyline said over her first, blinking a light into Miho's face for a moment in examination. "She's fine, though I wouldn't recommend a prolonged stay today," Kyline said before letting her friends get in and take over.

"Something wrong, Pirozhki?" Katyusha said towering over from Klara.

"This week's not a good week for you..." Kay said, arriving at the scene.

"Yeah…" Miho meekly agreed. "I think… I think I'll take today off…"

"Here, I'll walk you back, Miporin," Saori said, offering her hand to get her up."

"There's always the next two days for practices, Miho. Don't worry too much about today," Kay said as Miho got back onto her two feet.

"You're right. Can you all take over for today?"

"Don't worry about it Pirozhki, you're dealing with Pravda students, who excel in long-range double-envelopment tactics!"

"We've dispatched our whole vehicle inventory on the field before!" Kay said eagerly. "Managing more than 40 tanks at once is no sweat!"

"Thanks you two," Miho put her hopes on the team captains. They surely could handle themselves just for one day.

"Alright Miporin, let's get you back home to bed."

Saori walked by Miho out of the arena at a steady pace.

"We'll be able to handle ourselves, Miporin. You don't have to worry about the whole tournament by yourself, y'know?"

"I know that, Saori," Miho smirked about, "but… this feels like something else."

"What do you mean?" Saori asked.

Miho thought in about it. Her restlessness the past few days was a strange occurrence. The nationals never had this stress on her, and the first few weeks did fine. What was there weighing on her? Her nickname as "the Legend"? She didn't care too much about that… or was it. On the inside, was she quite conscious on her image to the world?

"No… It's nothing. I'm probably just not getting enough sleep." Miho admitted.

As Saori looked worriedly at Miho, Miho left her thoughts to bask on that prospect, that it was all just a psychological illusion of her image.

* * *

 **I'M SORRY FOR MY NEGLIGENCE TO THIS PROUD AND MIGHTY FANFICTION.**

 **So I have returned, midterms for 3 of my 4 classes decided to blitzkreig me all in one day (4/28), and now I have a midterm this week, but compared to last week, I have comparatively free time to write! Well, there's also a special event in War Thunder at the moment, but that's another story.**

 **In the middle of writing my Yukari-sneak-sneak chapter, I realized my intro was getting rather long to add onto the rest of the extended chapter, yet too valuable to simply discard and rewrite, so I have you this small chapter to show I'm alive while I finish writing the chapter focusing on Suvorov.**

 **Another reason why this all took a while was because on the weekend of 4/29, I actually went out to do some research… on tanks. I went to the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation to check out their tanks and get a hands-on experience on them. It wasn't the first time I was there, but I got to take a look on some of the vehicles I didn't examine then, the most provoking thing I learned this time was that the M10 is a** _ **really really hard**_ **vehicle to climb, even with a ladder! Another thing I learned was that escape hatch from the end of** _ **Fury**_ **in the Sheman… isn't that easy to get out. Like, maybe if I roll out off the seat into it, but I'll probably hit my head onto the concrete floor if I do so. I'll post an imgur link to the photos I took there in my forums under subtopic "Let's Talk Tanks", you can also see it on the Girls Und Panzer reddit page. Maybe I'll even make a compiled video of me looking around the facility later if I have enough material. If.**

 **Thank you very much for keeping up with** _ **Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_ **! If you like the story, don't be afraid to Follow and Favorite to keep up to date with a very busy author. I hope to finish the next chapter as soon as possible, so I'll see you all again very soon!**

 **Edit (8/20): Changed D minus 3 day to match to D minus 2 according to new canon.**


	20. From Ōarai with Love

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 20: From Ōarai with Love**

 **Russia, roughly 35 miles East of Tver, 100 miles North-West of Moscow**

Yukari walked through the wilderness, the crackling dirt and grass crunched under her dark brown boots. The sun was setting on the horizon as the sky became blazed in orange. The diminished light released a dark shade that made Yukari's outfit blend well into the environment. She still moved cautiously in her approach to the GPS coordinate Isabelle had provided her.

" _Yukari, are you there?"_ The earpiece spoke up through the comms. Despite the distance from the staging area, the reception was quite clear.

"Yeah, I'm here…" Yukari said, "...nowhere." Her breath was heavy after traversed the rough landscape. It was all one very extensive hike so far, moreso than an infiltration. "Are you sure this is the way?"

" _Yeah. They're out there somewhere. Nonna confirmed it with me just now based on the information from the League._ "

Yukari took a knee into the cold, moist ground in the covering of trees. Though there were sparse bunch of trees out in the plains to provide much needed cover, the large empty fields still brought lots of concerns on being spotted.

The short grass waved viciously as the wind forcibly blew the landscape, the clouds moving above only emphasize this phenomenon. Yukari checked her watch, 7 PM local time, plus the compass attached to see she didn't divert off course. "I can't believe they'll put their field out here in the middle of nowhere…"

" _Matter of geographics. The Tver Suvorov school buildings are in a middle of the city by the Volga, no place for practicing Tankery there."_ Isabelle stated.

"I always thought Suvorov was in Moscow…" Yukari said. The plane landed in the Russian capital, but a the trip was rapid as they went from the airport for more than a hour drive to the Tver Oblast district.

" _Suvorov is a complex of schools across the nation,"_ Nonna stoically explained. " _Eight left as of today, scattered all around from one edge to another. The Tver school is the one specialized for Tankery and the main administrative center for the 5th Guards Tank Army."_

 _5th Guards Tank Army?!_ "Wait a minute. _The_ 5th Guards Tank Army?"

" _Yeah,_ the _5th Guards Tank Army,"_ Isabelle clarified. " _The same one that broke the Germans at Prokhorovka and trapped them at Minsk during Bagration. Same unit tags and all. They were deactivated in 2001 as an Army Corps, but its lineage lived on in the Suvorov system."_

"Wow… like the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment…" Yukari recalled, wondering just how many schools and teams out there were based off military units of the past. "Still, for a lineage, you'd figure they be based in a more populous area…"

" _Russia is vast, they've got the wilderness past the cities to play around with. That's why their tank training facility is in the middle of nowhere."_

 _Much to my expense…_ Yukari sighed, her breath showing as it condensed in the air. Yet, despite the climate, her body was quite warm except for her exposed face. The new suit, S.B.S. Mk. III, was much more sophisticated than the Mk. I she wore at Britain. Unlike the Mk. I's scuba suit-like construction, the suit was built much more finely, its construction gave great insulation and cushioning. Another accessory with the suit was a vest that provided even more insulation. The suit was a shade of black and blue, and the vest had a pattern of darker color to break up the flat color of the entire suit. The coloring stood out when she put it on during sunlight hours, but as darkness came in, Yukari could see and feel the suit slowly blending with the environment of dark lighting.

She reached into a back pouch and pulled out a small PDA, complimentary from the Americans along with the watch. She flicked the screen on and checked her bearings. _Slightly further…_ Yukari begrudgingly thought. She never thought she'd have to walk the rest of the way. After tucking the machine away, she continued on. She cleared another field to trees carefully, the effort taxing on her stamina. Her heart pumped and limbs felt heavy, yet brimming from anticipation.

Cresting a hill, Yukari's eyes caught a peculiar scene and she got down, hugging the ground. She crept up for a viewing angle, and could see buildings, just protruding out a scattering of trees into the open. Yukari pulled out a binocular on her body's left rear side. A small, yet strangely engineered binocular, it gave her a good sight on the structure. She looked through the dual scopes, then flicked a switch on the top left part of the binocular. "Hey, Isabelle, I think I found something. Sending you a feed on the binoculars."

The reply was brisk. " _Roger that, stand by_ ," Isabelle said as the earpiece became silent. Yukari kept the binoculars down towards the area of interest, nothing was moving downrange, but the buildings were present, with green tinted windows on parts of the wall of various shapes. Long lines of fences lined the border, with green tarps on the wire mesh to avoid any sight seekers. The structure was long, very long with two main parts. A large hallway-like structure connecting the two to make it up as one single building.

" _Yukari, you there? That's the target; the Suvorov tank facility of Trev._ "

 _Oh good…_ Yukari thought in relief and in excitement as she put the binocular down. Suddenly the ache in her feet felt softer and rewarding.

" _Check your PDA, we just sent a file of the map we've got of the place."_

Yukari took out the PDA again. She flicked the machine on, with the bright light shined into her face. She touched a few icons and watched the machine load and bring up the map program, a loading bar on top as a file was being received. Despite the detailed terrain, the map does not show the structures that Yukari could see, a downside of using a public search engine's map system. A small notification popped up for the finished download, Yukari tapped that and it opened onto the screen. What showed was a simple white page with black drawings and schematics in it, showing something akin of a blueprint of a building.

" _Sorry for the Russian language in it,"_ Isabelle said as Yukari noted words in the middle of each room that were in the language. " _It's what we can rip from the internet. Nonna could help you translate it if you want. We'll be able to track your location in relative with this map with that GPS marker on you"_

"Got it," Yukari acknowledged. She checked the small device strapped onto her load-bearing gear on her body upon hearing about the GPS tracker.

" _From what I could see… the large field behind the building is their practice zone… God it's huge_ "

Yukari saw the location on the map and looked out the horizon, only met by the large opaque fences. "I can't see anything from here. The fences are blocking everything from here… not to mention the entirety of the facility"

" _Well, guess that means you have to enter the facility and see from the inside."_

"Of course…" Yukari muttered, hoping to take an easy way.

" _From the schematics. It seems that there are two accessible entrances into the facility… the front door and the rear garage, all surrounded by a fencings"_ Isabelle said as Yukari analyzed the diagram. The front entrance was a path in the woods, an inviting funnel from the main road, and the rear entrance that was facing the Suvorov tank training field. " _However, I wouldn't go through those. They'd be the most heavily guarded."_

"There's probably another way in, right?" Yukari mumbled to herself.

" _Yeah, try looking around, maybe there's an opportunity,_ " Isabelle said, hearing Yukari's thoughts. _"Now, you got your gear ready?"_

Yukari moved her arms as she felt around for her equipment. Her PDA on her back, the binoculars pouch slightly to the left of her PDA pouch. The trusty D.S. 1027 pistol was in a right pistol holster, Yukari took it out and inspected the load, having practiced using it the last few days. Finally, she felt the sling on her shoulder on the lumbering weight of metal that dangled on her left side. The sling attached to the M3A1 submachine gun she got acquainted to about three days ago. "So far so good…"

" _You remember how to use the directional microphone on the binoculars?"_

Yukari took up the binocular. Though it looked like most other standard, rugged binoculars; her variant had a particular amount of electronics protruding on one side. Two tiny, inconspicuous ports could be seen if one looked closely. One was a camera into the lenses, able to send a video feed to a receiver of what was seen through the left lens. The other port was a sensitive microphone, a directional one that focuses on sound waves at where the binoculars were pointed at. Both of these functions had their own buttons at the rear of the binoculars near the eye pieces, simple black buttons with a click on and off, both in an over and under fashion on the left side.

"Yeah, I got it," Yukari said."

" _You left the video feed on."_

"Oh!" Yukari pressed the top button on the left.

" _Good, don't waste the batteries. They're not motion-powered or something,"_ Isabelle said. " _From here on out, you're in command of the field. We got a good overlook on the area, so keep us updated on your position and we can provide intel on the area you are in."_

Yukari inhaled, the air chilled her mouth like a minty breath. "Alright, I'll let you know if I make it in."

" _Good luck"_

Yukari took up her binocular again and looked at the building from the distance. She alternated between that and the diagram on her PDA for any other possible entry.

 _Well, I guess I should get closer…_ Yukari thought. _Improvise._

Just as she was stowing away her equipment in preparation. She heard something, battering the air. It was a sound with a very familiar fluttering sound. It got gradually louder, along with the rustling of the leaves in the woods.

Yukari looked back as the whirring got louder and louder as the air blew on top of her, the force rustling her hair wildly. As she shielded her eye from the force, the surrounding became a bright as day momentarily before passing over. She looked up to a see a menacing flying beast in the air, a light ray emitting from its tip like a fire blown onto the ground. The machine throttled in the air, above the facility.

"What?" Yukari looked at it stunned. "A Hind D?"

" _Yukari, what's going on?"_

"Why do they have a helicopter?" Yukari looked at the machine with awe and apprehension.

" _Let us have a look_."

Yukari reached down back into her binocular pouch and took it out. She turned on the feed and aimed it towards the helicopter. The machine hovered over the area, lowering down onto the ground.

" _That's no Hind_ ," Isabelle voiced through. _"That's a Halo. Mi-26."_

Yukari looked closer as the vision refocused with a zoom. Two red symbols could be seen on the fuselage. A star, and a cross.

" _By the looks of the marking,"_ Isabelle continued as the image feed went through. _"It's the medical variant, the Mi-26MS. That thing could hold sixty stretchers and act as an on-field hospital."_

"Why would that be here?" Yukari asked.

" _Well… the Russians are quite hardcore. You heard about the Russian Spetsnaz?"_

"I heard about them online," Yukari commented, "and in, well, video games."

" _Yeah, the Russian's special force training are legendary, rumored to be extremely brutal to a man's mind and physique. Wouldn't be too surprised if the increased standards in trainings have transferred over to even the cadet schools."_ Isabelle said, her voice had a tint of admiration and respect. _"Admitted boys in Suvorov as young as 14 are trained to use weapons. Now imagine that ferocity and put them into tanks with cumbersome ergonomics, you'll need a medical team on standby at all times. With the tank facility being out in the wilderness away from the city, you'll need a helicopter to quickly transport serious conditions to the emergency center. A good part of this is that it could transport equipment back and forth from the isolated training center to the main school and military district."_

"That's quite a system they've got there…" Yukari said as the helicopter continued back down.

" _I'd also imagine that helicopter is done to train the airborne cadets as well…"_

"Airborne cadets?"

" _The air equivalent of tankery. You've heard of them, haven't you? Doesn't Japanese have one?"_

"Oh right! We call it Sentouki-dou. Now that I think about it, Saunders practice that quite often."

" _Yeah, airborne cadets practice aerial combat instead of tanks for the competition. Though they're not as big as Tankery is in the world, they've been getting prominence lately with the first-world countries that could afford them."_

"So that helicopter is like practice as well for the cadets?" Yukari looked at the medical chopper carefully.

" _Maybe not a medical one. Still, that helicopter will be a problem with eyes in the sky. Don't let them spot you there, even medical personnel will point out intruders if required."_

"Got it." Yukari said as she reached for her ear piece.

" _Feel free to keep the comms on for ease of access. If you need to interrogate someone, grab them close so we could hear their response. I'll have Nonna translate what they're saying and what you should say."_

"Alright. I'll be on my way now!" Yukari said at last, releasing her hand from her ear, the switch of the comms still at "on".

" _Good luck."_

Yukari put away the binocular, again, and moved up to the facility, still cloaked under the trees. She walked carefully, making sure there weren't any security posted outside. As she came close to the facility through the woods, she could see the front entrance. It was stationed with two watch towers, the fence at this front area lacks the tarps, but had barb-wire decorated on top as an additional deterrence.

The D.S.109 felt tingly on her side as though enticing her to force her way in. But that was impossible, such an entrance would surely be noticed and compromise the situation. Yukari sighed as she moved along the fences.

The watch towers have become prevalent as she moved along. Some stood right by the fence, with a guard and a searchlight examining his area of focus. Ironically, the tarped fence has aided Yukari's inspection by ensuring no one else on the other side at her level could see her, while creating a blindspot for the watch towers. She hugged close to the fence as possible to avoid detection, but a chill runs up her spine every time the light rays swayed towards her as she walked under it, the increasing darkness only made it more intimidating.

She inched around, looking for a good location to get in, if any. The wind blew about and the tarps swayed and moved as each swift wave came and went. In an area, one of the flap corner's flowed freely with the wind, exposing the wire mesh underneath. Yukari leaned in, looking through it into the area. Behind the fence was what appeared to be storage boxes, stacks of them scattered around. A great hiding place to start from. The opportunity here was golden, and it was clear that the fence was not electrified.

 _This thing again, huh?_ Yukari thought. She came prepared. On her load-bearing equipment, a small pocket was strapped on that held a multi-tool with a wire cutter. _Yeah… always wanted to damage government property…_ She got down on the ground and, taking the wire cutter out into her gloved hand. "Hey, Isabelle," Yukari whispered. "I'm about to cut through the wire fence at… at the school's south side."

Isabelle took a moment, _"Alright, got your position."_

The metal snapped as the tool cut through the barrier, producing a small semicircle big enough for her to squeeze through, keeping the tarp flap away as she crossed into Suvorov school grounds.

The storage boxes past the fence were stacked high enough to provide cover even when standing up. Yukari leaned close to the edges and examined the area. A rather open space appeared between the fences and the facility. Avoiding any of the lights shining from the scattered bulbs, Yukari peeked out and looked again at the front entrance, past the front barrier and watch towers. Men were intensely patrolling around the area, marching and moving with such dedication as if the role had been drilled into their heads. Yukari huffed as she moved along, the entrance still crossed off as a potential entryway.

The facility was huge from the distance, but was even moreso up close. Along the sides, the building seemed to run on almost a good hundreds of meters. It would make a considerable aerobic exercise to run around the whole place. For a desolate place, it was built imposing like a fortress. However, the sides of the facility was interrupted by large stone walls breaking apart the front part of the outdoor facility to the back, as if a security implemented in the architecture.

Still, the building had a vibe of modernism and age. The clean wall were interrupted by large racks laid vertically on the wall, seemingly encouraging growth of foliage in a decorative feature with the vines entwined to the top. It was thick enough it looked like it could be its own wall. Admiring this strange feature, Yukari found jackpot.

An open window up top.

Yukari beamed with hope with this, maybe the mission can progress after all. Yukari made sure the coast was clear before she moved up the vines. _Okay...how do they do this?_ She thought to herself, remembering some of the climbing techniques learned at Ōarai around the cliff areas.

She got a grip with her feet on the rough foliage and pushed up like a step, her hands gripping hard to prevent slipping. The leafy and branched vegetation provided great grip for both her hands and feet. She scale the wall, though with the associated rustling and the such.

The window's light emitting out like a treasure cove came closer as Yukari made it to eye-level, she peeked inside. Left and right, it appeared to be a quarters, or maybe an office. Either way, it was for one individual with one bed and desk, and the room was not very big either way. But it was empty, and with that knowledge Yukari lifted herself up over the window sill and-

"Чьи это следы?" A voice sounded from below.

Something pumped inside Yukari as the steady climb suddenly became a drastic fumble through. Nothing prevented her fall through the window onto the carpet floor, thin and tough. Her suit worked wonderfully though, the _THUD_ upon the impact was soft for the force Yukari felt as she landed side first. She didn't bother with the pain before huddling aside the wall.

"Что это?" Two voices spoke outside, one voice was deeper than the other.

Yukari stayed still, conscious about her breathing as the two men discussed outside.

"Возможный злоумышленник?"

"Да, Звук предупреждение?"

"еще нет"

Yukari heard the bleep of a radio. She held her breath. Did they see her? Were they calling in assistance? Did she mess up real good?

" _Yukari?_ " A rushed and hushed tone zipped out of the comms. _"You're inside the complex, what's going on?_ "

Yukari cupped her in a shouting whisper to direct the sound only to the comms. "I'm inside…second floor, but I think they might have noticed me…"

Silence fell for a moment, Yukari took her attention back to the men outside. She could hear three voices now it seems.

Isabelle got back, _"Well, the alarms aren't blaring from the sound of it, so you're good for now. Are they still out there?"_

"Yeah… they seem to be," Yukari listened in, "talking."

" _If you can get the binocular's microphone directed at them, I can have Nonna hear what they're saying,"_ Isabelle suggested.

"R-right," Yukari said as she brought out her vision device. She carefully got up onto the sides of the window and peeked the front of the binos outside towards the ground, roughly the direction the voice is coming from.

* * *

"I told him it could be a wolf. These tracks on the ground are very small."

"A-Alexei! C'mon! They were big a moment ago, like that of an intruder's. The dirt is just filling in! Please sir, we must move quick!"

"Calm down cadet. The next evening training rotation is about to commence and we don't want that cancel any training session now that we've gotten the material here from the depot. It's only about two days from the match day, we will not waste any time.

"B-but sir!"

"Cadet Maleyev, I will not have the base put on lockdown because of a suspicion. I'm sure the Commander Katukov will agree. You don't want to get on his… bad side."

"...Yes sir."

"Stay vigilant. If there is an intruder, we'll sniff him out soon enough. Continue your patrol and report back once your shift ends. Dismissed!"

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Yukari retracted the binoculars as the officer left the patrol alone.

" _Insightful, huh?_ " Isabelle asked.

"Yeah… Thanks Nonna," Yukari thanked for the interpretation, she heard back what sounded like a smile in audio format.

" _Alright, now move on and-"_

Yukari heard a clack in the room and in a flash moment, the door of the room opened.

The man, a young adult possibly before his 20s, had a green utility uniform on where he stood, the coloring revealed splotches of dark green, light green, specks of brown, and dull grey filler that seemed to fill in the holes. The pattern followed all over his blouse and pants, with noticeable interruptions on it revealing the seams and pockets, prominent on the two blouse pockets on his breast area. His boots were dark black, with stains of dirt, moisture of the snow, and the wear and tear with scratches and wrinkles all over it. On his head was a brown ushanka; unlike that seen on Nina, the hat seemed like a perfect fit on him with the ear flaps down and nudged on his head perfectly.

On one hand he had a tray of food; on it was a bowl, perhaps a soup, along with a piece of bread. His other hand was still firmly gripping the door handle that he swung open to a surprise guest.

Yukari managed to absorb all these details from the moment the door opened and revealed an opponent to her mad dash towards the man. By the time she got within arms reach, the man had only finished gasping at the special gift from Ōarai.

In a flash, a result of beat-in training from the last few days at Ōarai with Isabelle and Emma, Yukari made her move. She heard a small crash with a spill of liquid, the swift closure of the door, and then she registered the squirming of a Russian in her grasps, knocked to his knee and somewhat struggling to breathe.

"Umm… you, uh…" Yukari stammered. Step one, incapacitate the intruder, was complete. Unfortunately, she hadn't formulated a step two. "Talk!"

"Отпусти меня!" The man shouted as he waved about what limbs he could still move. Yukari tried to keep him restrained until she figured out what to do.

" _Yukari! What's going on?!"_

"Hold on!" Yukari struggled to keep the man in place. "Dealing with a...urgh! Man here!"

"Помогите!"

" _Nonna, tell Yukari how to ask what time the practice is?!"_

" _Uh.. Vremya praktiki"_

Yukari kept her grip as she said rashly "V-Vermya...Pratiki? Verymya Pratiki!"

"О чем ты говоришь?!"

" _He doesn't understand you,"_ Nonna's nonchalant voice came through, much to Yukari's dismay.

" _To hell with it. Yukari, knock him out."_

Surprised. "Wha-? I can't just-"

" _Do it!"_

Yukari hesitated and the man broke free of one of her arms. Drastic measures were taken and Yukari held her grip on his neck. She took out her D.S. 109 and held it against his back. The recoil jumped as she pulled the trigger and the syringe flew into the man's back. He continued to flail a bit before his reactions slowed, and then stilled. Yukari checked to make sure he was still breathing before laying him down on the ground.

" _You slept him?"_ Isabelle said, having heard the commotion.

"Yeah… I'm still not too certain about choking anyone out…"

" _That's fine, more reliable anyways. Is the coast clear?"_

"The room seems to be for one person, and if this man's the occupant, I'll be fine here for a bit."

" _Take this moment to analyze the interior before you continue. This place is big."_

"Right," Yukari said while holstering her pistol. She pulled out the PDA and opened up the map area. Zooming out, she could see the huge facility and its features.

Indeed, the place was gigantic. The whole facility was one large connecting building, one end seemed to be the administrative building, but it also had rooms for classes, a cafeteria, storage rooms, and quarters for the cadets on the second story, which Yukari is in at the moment. The large hallways she saw connecting the front and back buildings part were in two, one each on the north and south sides. Both seemed like the access ways to the large building on the other side that dwarfed the main one. "What's this building here?" Yukari asked through her comms.

A small background muttering between Isabelle and Nonna followed before Isabelle got back. " _The tank hangar_ ".

"So that's where I have to go…" Yukari looked at it. Only two ways in, through those very hallways.

" _You'll be exposed going down those hallways,"_ Isabelle said, studying the map as well. _"And they might be secured too. Won't be surprised if they restrict access to the hangar to specific people."_

"Alright, I'll take a look around, see what I can get," Yukari said. "There's a staircase down the hall to my right and to the left, I'll make it down there first and check it out."

" _Don't be afraid to interrogate a few on the way. Nonna's on standby to give you the proper words."_

"Okay…" Yukari said, still uneasy about using forceful tactics.

" _Always keep a exfiltration plan when you go indoors. Lots of ways to get trapped, don't get boxed in. Keep this man's room in check just in case as an exit point. Speaking of which,see if you can get anything out of it that might help your infiltration. And when you're done, make sure no one who enters the room finds anything remotely suspicious"_

"Right," Yukari stated before looking at the man asleep on the floor. She eyed the room, and then picked him up and dragged him onto the bed in the room. She also searched his pockets, turning up a card key. A simply white cardkey with a black magnetic strip running across. _Hopefully this works_. "Alright, I'm heading out," Yukari said, steadying herself. She breathed in a few as she approached the door that would let her out into the second floor's main hallway. She exhaled as she lightly open the door, complementing with an eerie _Creeeeaaackk_.

The hallway opening was clear. Yukari peeked out a bit and looked left and right. No one in sight. She moved out of the room and noted the electronic lock on the door. Yukari checked and swiped the white cardkey on the door, it blipped green. Confidently, she closed the door and it locked.

The click sounded loud in the silence of her proximity, but after her attention waned, she heard conversation happening down the hall to her right. The staircase closer to the hangar hallways seem to be busy. Suddenly, a loud cheering could be heard down there. _Sounds like they're having fun_ , Yukari thought, and decided to avoid that area. She headed left to the closest stairs down.

The halls were clean and does not look out of place of a school dormitory, with simple wall papers and carpet floor. Each room, leading to a room for the cadets, had their own electric lock system in place for security. Simple, but exactly what a student could expect.

After a few steps, the stair access was in front of her, one flight to go up or down through. It was the turning type that stopped midway for direction to rotate to finish the trip downstair. She moved in and-

"Вы слышали о Т-14?"

Yukari scrambled into hiding, unholstering her D.S. 109.

"Да, слышал, что они собираются выдать его курсантам."

"О, мальчик, его время у нас есть те."

The two men walked up the stairs and passed into the hallways, not noticing Yukari who had hid on behind one of the few wall protrusions in the hall. She held her breath, her pistol at hand, as they walked a distance away before continuing. After their voices became diminutive, she moved on with ease.

The hall downstair was not much different than the second floor. However, they were very wide to accommodate the traffic in the building with all the cadets.

A non-existent traffic at the moment, however. There was a surprising absence of students in this building, compared to the number of rooms available on the second. So vacant, it's eerie, like an abandoned haunted house.

 _This is freaky…_ Yukari thought as she silently moved ahead. She peaked into the rooms that appeared as classrooms, all were blacked out and with no one present. Artwork and photographs scattered the hall as decoratives, artworks of rather heroic posturing of the tank crewmen and photos of rare tanks, one was the specific photograph of the T-44-122 next to a German Panther. Yukari almost wanted to squee, but the assignment came first and so she let her eyes take all the glory today.

Cautiously, she moved down the hallway end with little difficulty, though ready to duck and cover should an individual show himself. Her D.S. 109 was still in her hands, just in case. The corner was present and she could see the two hallway entrances down there. Both were a lot more sophisticated, metal doors demonstrating a good degree of security being taken. Yukari closed in at the south hall entrance, edging on the wall. She could see a key card reader present. Curiously, she took out the white key card she got from that man upstair. Inspecting it closely, she then swiped the card through the reader. A small delay and the light blipped green. The metallic door, a sliding door, had a small click as it unlocked. It did not automatically open and Yukari only found out when the lock clicked shut again.

 _What?_ Yukari thought as she swiped the card again. The greenlight blipped and Yukari looked for a way through on the door. Some switch? Handle? She swept her hand around where the handle would be on a normal door and felt a button. She pressed it firmly and the door slid open to the right like some space door. Yukari went in and the door swept itself shut, a hiss sounded from the mechanism involved and the door clicked shut.

The hall was much, much more detailed than what the schematic map demonstrated. It was a blend between a cathedral architecture and that of a military facility So different from the previous building it looked like a completely different facility. The walls were black and metallic, but there were large pillars lined up on both sides in the hallway in rows that had a center path straight to the other side. However, there were spaces between the pillars to the walls for one to gawk at the stained glass decoration on both sides of the hall. A very strange design feature indeed. To top it off, on both ends of the hall, there were second floor covered balconies that were accessible in the very same hallway, stairs on the side of the pillars allows one to get up and view the whole spectacle from an elevated position through the two openings present.

" _You're in the hallway now, how is it?"_ Isabelle said, probably seeing Yukari's blip on the map move into the sector.

"It's a lot more fancier than the map suggests…" Yukari said, still in awe of what was delivered for what was seen.

" _Really? Wish I could get a view. The hangar should be in the very end of the hall. Make sure you can get through the second door."_

"Alright, I'm on the way," Yukari said as she moved forward, still admiring the scenery. The door towards the end of the hangar was the exact same model as the one she entered through. She swiped the card key through and the door unlocked. She clicked the button on the door and it slid unhesitantly opened.

The door opened to a large interior plaza. At least, that's what the tank hangar looks like because there were no tanks. No tanks in the hangar! _What?!_ Yukari said in disbelief. The whole place was desolate and empty for the size it presented. The large hangar door on the other end was opened wide into the dark wilderness, wind blowing in harshly with the difference in air pressure.

Only wheeled vehicles like jeeps and other utility vehicles were present and the only activity seen were troop trucks that were ferrying the men who had marched through the hall out. The trucks moved out into the open, at speed gone and done for Yukari to set out.

 _Oh man…_ Yukari thought as she saw this unfold.

" _Yukari, you're in the hangar, aren't you? What do you see?"_ Isabelle chimed in like a scratching record.

"There's no tanks here! They're gone!"

" _What?"_

"The garage is open though…" Yukari said as the wind blew into her face.

" _Crap, that means the tanks are out there in the field,"_ Isabelle surmised.

"I don't think I can keep up with them out there." Yukari was concerned about the vast field size out there. Would it be a long hike out to the open? Her tired legs felt like they were moaning and complaining of the stress they might have to go through.

" _Hang on one second,"_ Isabelle halted Yukari's train of thought. " _There's a nearby tower connected to the hangar through their office. Do you see the office? It should be on an elevated position."_

Yukari looked around and saw the boxed room hanging on the wall, accessible with a simple metal staircase on the side. "Yeah, I think I see it."

" _That's the control room, but there should be an access to the control tower up top for air and ground coordination. If you're up there, you should have a good vantage point over the training field for scouting._ "

Yukari looked up that control room and imagined what laid ahead. She's climbed the Ōarai bridge before, so height is not a major issue, but… "O-okay, I'll try my best!"

" _Be careful out there,"_ Isabelle said, and Yukari was off.

Though the hangar was empty, Yukari tried to weave around the utility vehicles for the most cover. She made it to the yellow-painted metal stair and climbed, her steps squashed by her outfit and she climbed at a relative silence. She reached the door and unholstered her pistol. Her hand on the handle, she breathed in and out a few times before opening it smoothly yet swiftly.

There were two men inside, one managing the monitors on the tabletops and another at the storage lockers. Yukari moved in, swiftly as she remembered. The door veered open and freely hit blockade, the noise notified the two men of the threat inside with them. As they turned, Yukari had her sights on one, the pistol aimed at the one further from her at the lockers and fired one shot. Time seemed to slow as she felt the dart leave her pistol and fly towards the man, hitting through his uniform and injecting the content within him.

As Yukari cycled her manual loader, the other man was now about to react as he reached for something on the computer board. Yukari didn't know what it was, but it was something she'd rather not find out and moved in. Her knee kicked up his hand and he flinched, then Yukari upped a fist into the air and smacked it down onto the man's chest. On his desk chair, the man stumbled backwards with the chair onto the ground. Yukari finished up by planting a dart onto his chest. The downed men lazily tried to get up as Yukari cycled the tranquilizer. In almost quick succession, the two men fell down dead asleep.

It felt like minutes for her as she watched the two incapacitated men down on the ground. She looked around, making sure it was all in the clear. No commotion, all was good. The two men now made quite a sight on the floor and that had to be dealt with.

After a few minutes of grunting, pulling, and stuffing, Yukari used her back and forcibly closed one of the locker door shut. Out of breath from her efforts of hiding the downed men, she pressed on. _No time to wait… everyone is waiting for my results!_

She looked at the lone door on the side of the room, the only other door except the one she used to enter the control room. She stood back up and reached towards it. The door had a dull ugly yellow paint on it that gave a look of odor from its shading. It creaked as Yukari pushed it open. The rough wind came in intrusively and took Yukari off guard as she made her way into the open.

Outside, she found herself on a metal platform with stairs going up leading her to the command hub of the tower. Yukari edged herself up. Looking around, exposed to anyone with a keen eye on the ground in this weather. The stairs vibrated metallically as she took each step. Down below by the tank hangar, she could see the Mi-26MS that she saw earlier on a landing pad by the tank hangar. Its back door was open and men were still unloading supplies from the large helicopter.

Still she climbed up the structure and was a considerable distance from the ground when she made it to the brain of the place. Inside the top of the tower, she could see a mix of aged men. Boys and hard-looking men were present, the men were watching the boys on the monitor inside the glassed off tower, like advisors teaching the next generation of cadets how to command and communicate.

" _Yukari, I see you're at the tower. How is it up there?_ " Isabelle said.

"The main area is occupied, so I guess I have to hang around outside here," Yukari said, getting somewhat chilly from the weather after such a comfortable time inside.

" _Can you get a view of the tank field from up there?_ "

Yukari looked out to the open field behind the hangar. It was vast, Ōarai's training grounds was pretty big as is, but the natural feeling of the place in the middle of Russia made it look endless. A perfect place to practice maneuver warfare.

"I'm about to take a look," Yukari said, taking out her binoculars. She planted herself on the stair railings and viewed through the sights. She couldn't see anything clearly on the horizon, but she followed the snow tracks of the tanks and trucks that passed from the garage towards their area. In the distance, she could see a small gathering of trucks with their headlights on and blaring. Men were down there moving stuff from the truck bed out into the open "I think I found something."

" _Send us a live feed, let us take a look_ ," Isabelle said. Yukari complied by turning it on. She laid the binoculars on the area for a few seconds as the image processed in Isabelle's screen. _"Got it, looks like Russian cadets, that's for sure. Unloading supplies._ "

"For the tankers to resupply with?" Yukari thought about the logistics of running the practice range in all this, then she thought back at Ōarai where when tanks ran out of supplies, they had to return to the hangars to load up more ammo or fuel. Having trucks run the system doesn't sound that bad now.

" _They seeme to just be hanging ou- wait one."_

"Hmm?" Yukari wondered as she took a closer look. The gathering of men were interrupted by large clumsy vehicles moving in. Tanks, their shapes were unmistakable. The tanks came in from the horizon, driving towards the trucks, as they closed in, they revealed themselves as T-34s. From the T-34 sizes, Yukari determined the distance between her and the tanks. Recalling from the usage of the range-finding mils on the Panzer IV's gun sights, and comparing them to the binocular's zoom level onto the distant Russian tanks, the T-34-85 tanks, she determined the distance to be at least 300 meters.

" _Of course they have those…"_ Isabelle said unsurprised at the identified Russian tanks. The T-34-85 tanks lumbered in with a green paint job on, though on one side as a tank turned, Yukari could make out the bold red star on the side of the turret. A few moment and these tanks parked neatly by the trucks.

 _Very organized,_ Yukari thought as she watched it unfold. She was fascinated by the way the Russians seemed to operate their vehicles. Her only experience was with the Pravda crew, but these Russians felt more authentic, like a throwback to the original users of these tanks.

More T-34 tanks came in, some of them were the antiquated 76 mm versions, both the "mickey-mouse" hatch variants with the hexagonal turret and the other was the case and more low profile turret with the unreasonably large hatch for both the commander and the loader. Yukari viewed them with awe, despite their archaic design, they were still such beautiful machines to marvel at and the fact that Tankery versions of such designs exist means there is still a market for those tanks.

Then something lumbered in. It was large, slow, and sluggish above all, and the thing filled Yukari with amazement. They were the "Zveroboy", "beast killers" of the tank world, and what the online forum would call the "derp guns". ISU self-propelled guns came in bearing their heavy armaments. 122 mm and 152 mm versions. Howitzers of the highest calibers that can fight the heavy cats the Germans had at the time.

 _Wow… would we be able to face those?_ Yukari thought. No doubt that Ōarai had tanks that could fight the beasts, but they would be facing down the barrels of such things. Crazy.

" _What an impressive arrangement of armaments they've got_ …" Isabelle commented, looking through the video feed, also impressed.

" _Those must be Ms. Katyusha's orders that she never received…_ " Nonna said in the background. _"Filthy that it must go to their hands, we'll show them who are the proper owners of these beasts._ "

"Yeah…" Yukari said, resting the binoculars on the rails on the relative direction of the gathering while lifting her eyes to remove the tunnel vision. "Those armor will be tough to counter… the T-34-85 could already defeat a lot of our tanks with the 85 mm."

" _You'll just have to play smart and- …What the hell is that?"_

"What?" Yukari said before taking the binoculars into her eye again.

Something new has appeared in the field of vision. Something unlike that of the ISU or T-34-85. It was something huge, intimidating, and most of all a force of Russian power. Yukari couldn't believe it was there, it was the last tank she'd expect to see now. Its distinctive semi-hemispherical turret shape, and the front construction was a pointy pike-shape that gave it an impression of an arrow, an arrow ready to penetrate through any hard anti-tank defenses it could find. A force so intimidating that in real life when it first revealed itself, it scared the crap out of everyone else who saw it.

"Oh my gosh, an IS-3…" Yukari could barely get those words out under her internal screaming of glee and stuttering lips. On one side of her mind, _OhmygoditsanIS3itssoamazingAAAHHH_. On the other side, O _hmygoditsanIS3howarewegoingtokillit._

" _It's up to your team to make a strategy on how to kill that thing,_ " Isabelle said. " _If it doesn't break down in the middle of a match, that is."_ Still, Yukari absorbed all she could of the IS-3 tank from here.

The large hatch on top opened up. The bulky, single hatch for the entire turret crew swung forwards. Though far away to hear the sound, Yukari could feel the heavy metal part clang as it fell forwards to its open position. The crew climbed out, the loader right side of the tank rolling out of the smooth, circular turret while a man at the commander's position sat on the edge of the hatch. He had a black padded Russian tank helmet, a very common look among the other tankers, but he stood out compared to the other disembarking tank crews in that he removed the helmet. Underneath the dark, soot-covered helmet, his hair was a clean bright white-blonde that stuck out in the dark, especially so as he ruffled his helmet hair away with his free hand.

Yukari zoomed in her binoculars, the man finished tending to his hair and looked at the troops below, his eyes were a cold blue like the icebergs. He then placed his helmet down inside the IS-3 and brought out a hat. A visor cap with black edge and base, a rough yellow-green cotton color made up the top part, with a red band surrounding the cap top. The hat itself showed this man as more than just a squad leader. He was the commander of the Suvorov's Tankery team.

"Hey, Isabelle, I think I found someone interesting here…" Yukari said over.

" _Feed's down. Turn it back on, can't see anything here."_

"Oh," Yukari pressed the button, turning on the function on her binocular and she stared down to the man, who just slid off the IS-3 onto the ground. The driver's hatch on the IS-3 just opened as well, right under the gun mantlet.

" _Yep, that's him. Commander Erik Dimitrevich Katukov. Leader of the 5th Guards Tank Army's cadet team."_

"So he's the captain," Yukari summed it up.

" _Yeah, don't take him lightly. Rumors are that the Katukov family in Russia is pretty much the equivalence of the Nishizumi and Shimada family of Japan. They're a really dedicated family of Tankery here, often participating in their own tank biathlon and many other international tankery events. As you can imagine, they have the most beef with Carius Academy in terms of international dominance."_

"Wow… so the Nishizumi aren't a very special case in the international perspective, huh?" Yukari asked, privately wondering if there is a Russian version of herself down there gawking at Katukov.

" _Doesn't help they have quite a lineage. The Katukovs are rumored to be descended from Mikhail Katukov, the Marshal of Armored Troops of the_ _Soviet Union and, coincidentally, commander of the 5th Guards Mechanized Army, an evolved unit of the 5th Guards Tank Army."_

 _Really like the Nishizumi…_ Yukari thought, recalling the extensive background Miho's family has with the tides of history.

" _Hey, Yukari. Turn on the directional mic, let's see if we can get anything interesting."_

"Oh yeah!" Yukari said as she clicked the other button on the binoculars, then aimed down the area.

" _Nonna, heads up. Transmission's coming in."_

* * *

The ground crunched under the boots, audible enough to the mic as it remains pointed to him.

"Commander!" Five tankers saluted as he arrived.

"Comrades," Katukov said as he saluted back. As he put his hand down, so did they. His stare stabbed sharply at one of the commanders. "Zekhov, what happened with that maneuver out there?"

One of the tankers faulted in posture, "Commander, it wasn't my fault! Oleg was-"

Katukov seemed to throw something straight at Zekhov. "You bastard. It is the commander's responsibility to get the troops ready for this event. I hold you on this responsibility for the last month already! What is this?! You can't get a platoon in line?!"

"Commander… sorry! Sir!"

"Be lucky the match is already coming up, else I'd consider replacing you with someone more competent in management."

"U-Understood!" The man saluted.

Katukov then looked to the rest of the troops in front of him. "Now, to more important matters… What is the status of the troops?"

One of the them spoke up, "Commander. They are optimistic, the new tanks have been a great morale booster. Especially the 44s. Some of the boys say it felt like the T-55 tanks in reserves."

"Good," Katukov responded quickly before turning over to another man. What about the artillery crews? Have they become familiar with their vehicles?"

"Yes commander, the Zveroboy drives just like the Stalin-2 tanks, so we dispersed the heavy tank drivers to crew these guns. Managing the gun for indirect fire still requires some extra work, however."

"That requires time we do not have, Anton. We'll have to make do with the accuracy."

"That is true, commander. However, we must strive for 100% efficiency an-"

"I don't want 100% efficiency, I want 100% effectiveness," Katukov was prodding into the man with his words. "If you teach an artillery men on how to best shoot his gun, but not where to land his shots, is he effective at all? Make sure the crew learns to shoot by coordinates by the artillery officers coming in tomorrow morning. That is important."

"Yes, commander," Anton said flatly like in a recoil.

Katukov turned to another tanker, "What about the special troops? Are they up for the task, Igor?"

"Commander, we had to weed out another third of them. They panicked under the gun fire"

"Another third? How many are we left with?"

"Commander, we only have eleven volunteers left."

"Eleven…" Katukov let that number roll around. "Do they understand their role, however?"

"Yes Commander. They scored perfect shots against the spare tanks like the Panzer IV and Panthers. All managed to white flag those through the side plates. They will be fine. The problems was during the concealment trials. Our spotters looking through the interior T-34 vision ports could see the inept ones too easily. They were immediately disqualified and rotated into regular tank duties."

"I see. However, they must be prepared against the Legend's team in the few days. When the report comes back from Airborne, make sure the teams all understand the enemy's weak points and blindspots of their tanks, understood?"

"Yes commander!"

"Alright," Katukov said then turned his direction to the next man. "Kirill, how are the fire detach-"

"Commander!" A young man came up to Katukov. He looked like he was 14, but he ran up towards the commander and felt out of breath. Despite the interruption, Katukov turned all his attention to this boy.

"What is it, cadet Kolya?" Katukov said to the boy.

"Commander…" the boy breathed in, "it's Naydenov, commander. He's-"

"Wandered off again?"

"Yes, commander," Kolya confirmed to Katukov.

Katukov paused for a moment before looking to the gathering of tankers. "I will be right back, dismissed." And he walked off.

Yukari curiously kept track of him. He moved around the parked T-34-85 tanks. _Who was this Naydenov?_ Yukari wondered, Katukov dropped everything upon hearing that name. As he weaved through the parked tanks, crews hanging around saluted as he passed, but he paid no attention in return. His path was predetermined and focused as he rather brutishly made his way to a man staring absently towards one specific T-34-85.

"Ivan, Ivan, Ivan," Katukov said as he closed in on the man. "I thought I told you to stay put in the driver's position."

The man did not respond as he continued to stare at the T-34 tank. His helmet was off, exposing his blonde hair, not as white as Katukov's, but a plain flowing yellow with a tinge of brown to it. His eyes were weary and off, in a trance fixed at his head's direction. His physique was skinny, almost like a twig for his height and his uniform looked too big for him, especially compared to Katukov next to him.

"Naydenov," Katukov said plainly.

Ivan Naydenov turned slightly towards Katukov. He then stood at attention sluggishly and saluted. "Commander Katukov."

"At ease my friend," Katukov said, saluting to Naydenov as he lowered his own. "What brought you out here to this tank?"

Naydenov looked at Katukov like the question was foreign, but then pointed to the tank he's been taking a high interest to. "This tank… it's choking."

"Choking?" Katukov looked at the tank. However, his voice was not of absurd curiosity, but actual concern like he's been told an actual emergency.

"Yes… its…. it's unclean. It can't get enough air when it runs, it hasn't been taken care of…"

"The crew's been skimping out filter inspection on the engine, huh?" Katukov said. "I'll have the mechanics take a look. Is there anything else?"

Naydenov stared blankly around. He wandered closer towards one. "This tank…" he stammered to Katukov, who followed along with him. "And all the others here…" Naydenov pointed his finger all around. "They are all ready to kill…"

* * *

" _Nonna, are you sure you're interpreting this correctly?"_ Isabelle cut into the ridiculousness of the conversation so far.

" _It is exactly as they're saying,_ " Nonna stood by her translation. Yukari, meanwhile, was wondering if this person was even more into tanks than she was, or just flat out crazy.

" _C'mon, for real? Man's talking like these tanks are living things or something_ ,"

Yukari wanted to chime in about spirit though, "Well, I can kinda see it from his point of vi-"

"Что за?!" Someone cried to Yukari's left, down the circular stair around the tower.

Yukari looked down to see a grown man express surprise at a girl in a black outfit looking out in the open with her binoculars.

"Hey!" The man said in a universal language, very loudly. Yukari closed in quick. She aimed for his legs first with a kick. He stumbled and flinched, his shout interrupted by the pain. She then used her other leg to sweep him over, sending him onto the metal stairs. As he tried to get up, Yukari unsheathed her pistol and shot a dart into his leg. He also flinched and Yukari made her distance upstair. The man tried to follow only to fall in a sprawling mess as the drug slowly took effect.

Yukari sighed for a moment. Then she heard the door upstairs open. The only door up was the control tower itself. _Uh oh,_ Yukari thought as she propelled herself downstair. She was a good floor down before she heard a yell.

"Что ебать?!" Or some other angry Russian pronunciation. It didn't matter though, her presence was compromised. It was time to go anyways, she's got the necessary information in her head and to Isabelle as she flew down back to the hangar control room.

She forced the door open and ran into the control room quickly. She found it still empty and the lockers undisturbed. _Okay, just gotta get out the way I got in…_ Yukari thought as she made her way out of the control room back into the main hangar. All the utility vehicles were still there on the hangar floor, undisturbed from when she first arrived. The south hallway back to the main building was still there and Yukari almost made a dash for it before she heard the _BEEP_ of an authorized access coming in.

 _Oh sh-_ , Yukari yelped as she made a mad sprint to cover. The door hiss with the open sliding movement right as Yukari dived between the two cars parked next to each other. She made certain of her concealment by rolling under one of the car.

A squad of men, teenagers, came in with the standard camouflage uniform. However, they had a battle gear on, pockets to hold various equipments, and a solid steel helmet. In their hands was a weapon, the PPSh-41 with its curved stick magazines.

 _Oh boy…_ Yukari wondered how deep off the wrong end she's fell through. The cadets ran up the control room area and were inspecting the area, some went outside onto the tower. _Yeah, they know I'm here._

" _Yukari, what's up?"_ Isabelle called in.

"I think I'm in trouble," Yukari said back, "They know I'm here."

" _Do they know where you are at the moment?_ " Isabelle asked.

"No, I'm hiding under a car. They just sent a team to where I knocked out a man."

" _Okay, just stay calm. They can't fight an enemy they can't see._ " Isabelle tried to rationalize the situation. " _They'll be looking for you, but if you stay hidden, they can't reinforce the situation, and they can't guard every single area with just the QRF."_

"O-okay…" Yukari said, trembling with anticipation. Somehow she felt excited by all this. Something was pumping through her blood like a drug, a dangerous one if she can't keep it in control of her actions. She peeked out, some of the armed guards were looking around, with one standing post outside the control room's entrance. His vision looked directly towards the south hallway. Yukari eyed towards the other way out, the north hallway. She examined it like another squad of troops would spill out of it. Meanwhile from the open door of the control room, she could hear someone messing around with the lockers...

"Gah!" A scream cried inside the control room, "Помогите!"

The man right outside the control room looked back instinctively back into the room. As he did, Yukari made a run for it to the North hall. She nearly slammed right onto the metal door before she swiped the card through. _Please work!_ Yukari pleaded to whoever commands the door. The lock beeps open and Yukari made her way through.

The North hallway did not look too different compared to the south hall. Different window decorations, but that was basically the extend. The same two elevated balconies came up on both ends of the room with the same arrangement of pillars. Yukari took the moment to catch her breath by the door, under one of those balconies. A few deep breathes and she moved forward in a walking pace. _Should be all good now_ … Yukari said rather uneasily.

The whole base was on alert, and she still had a building and a half to get through on the second floor back through the man's room that she first entered. _Oh boy, I hope that guy's still asleep…_ Yukari thought to herself. _How long has it be-_ "

KEEOON-*krack!*

* * *

Yashin looked through the PU scope of his suppressed Mosin-Nagant M91/30, a symbolic prize that showed his status as the Suvorov team's sniper.

His shot struck the pillar, intentionally, to the right of the target, the round ricocheted around. The target scrambled to hiding behind the pillar on the other side.

Yashin smirked. His target's got a survival instinct at least. The alert earlier on a situation at the tank hangar had rustled the quick reaction force. While the majority of the force headed through the south hall, he was stationed in the north to lock down the area. He cycled the bent bolt handle for the next round, the brass casing of the dummy round clattered on the ground.

He was surprised though. A girl? Here? In an all-men school, she'd stand out for sure if ever sighted, especially with the suit pronouncing certain curvatures on the body. Despite that, for her to get this far without anyone finding out, she's surely an interesting individual.

He smiled as he brought up his rifle again on his shoulder and rested his cheek onto the stock. "Grant me an interesting fight...little girl," Yashin licked his dry lips, breathed in deeply, and blinked away his eye strain; then he steadied his eyes onto his target.

* * *

" _Sniper?! Where?"_ Isabelle cried as Yukari reeled in from the shock. She peeked out one side of the pillar. The hallway suddenly looked very, very long and distant from one end to the other. She looked for something, anything. A small movement and she ducked back to cover. A flash, and then a crash sounded on the pillar she was hiding behind. A high-velocity shot ricocheted around the wall, ripping through the air. Yukari regained her composure and peeked out the other side of the pillar.

She could see a glint, part of the light from the hallway ceilings. The glint blared out from the balcony top, on one of the two openings up there. As soon as she saw that, she ducked back, right in time as the next bullet struck closer to home. The target was downrange, but it was all distance between there and here. She checked her weaponry… the M3 SMG? It was unsuppressed, and at this distance there wasn't much reasonable accuracy. Her D.S. 109? How does she plan on hitting the target from here?

"I think I found him, I'm gonna try to take him out," Yukari said.

" _Don't try to keep all your attention on him, Yukari,"_ Isabelle said. _"Remember, you have to get out of there alive!"_

Yukari inhaled and steadied her posture, "I plan to."

She peeked from her position at the next pillar. _If I just move quickly and unpredictably closer…_ " Yukari saw her opportunity… she hope it was one. Only one way to find out…

Yukari peeked out the left side of the pillar she was hiding behind, she stayed for half a second before darting across the hallway. It felt like ages as she ran between the halls, feeling a target being painted onto her. A tingly feeling of a crosshair felt up onto her.

She finally made it across, just in time for a round to crack through the air again. Yukari thought on the sound. _No muzzle blast?_ Yukari recalled her time firing unsuppressed firearms. Its absence was noticeable, only the crack of a supersonic round could be heard. _That's surely going to hurt if it hits me!_

So Yukari darted again once more.

* * *

The girl's movement was fast, rapid. She crossed the hallway with such speed it's no doubt she has a tactical fortitude. Her speed made it hard to lead her with the scope, but the confined nature of the hall makes it all exhilarating as she closed in. He could never afford this kind of feeling in an official match or the commander would have his head.

But he was very interested in this girl's actions. It was so unlike the cadets here, they bumbled along like mindless zombies in comparison to this girl's agility. He picked off his own cadets in paintball practice with ease, yet this girl outran his tracking.

By the time she crossed to two thirds of the hallway, he was getting rather pumped up.

"Alright…" Yashin decided, "Fun time's over."

* * *

Yukari closed in another row of pillars, towards the balcony. She steadied herself for each run, breaking out in full springs. Her heart raced harshly as she came into this dangerous foe. Something else swelled on her, _I can probably do this!_

A round came very close, hitting her load-bearing gear and the impact sent her spiraling to the ground.

 _Oh no!_ Yukari frantically crawled behind the pillar, just in time before a shot came in and blasted the ground. Yukari felt her heart stop in that one moment, chiding herself for that mistake. _Don't get cocky… don't get cocky…_

However, she was only about four pillars away from the balcony entrance. Is it entirely possible to just run to the staircase? Yukari looked down, the distance did not look much greater than the space between the hallway's pillar columns. She could do it!

Yukari peeked out a bit, then ran. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her onto the staircase and-

 _BRTRTRTRTRTRTRTRTRTRTRT_

A loud rip shredded the airspace, a high rate of fire as it saw through the space like a buzzsaw. Dust flew where the bullets landed, but the crash were not as loud as those from the sniper rifle.

 _A submachine gun?!_ Yukari's mind raced in all this. She recalled the weapons the other cadets were wielding. _A PPSH-41… dang!_

Her legs still moved unconsciously and she barely had time to stop herself from running right into the stair's footholds. But now surely, the sniper knew she was close, and he had a submachine gun for close-encounters. Yukari unslung her M3A1 submachine gun and opened its bolt cover. _But… will I be alright with this…?_

Yukari went up the stairs, approaching the corner of the entry way into the balcony room. How she enter safely to neutralize the enemy? Yukari held the M3 submachine gun up and used what Emma called "cutting the pie". She scooched slowly around the corner, little by little gaining a look inside the hall. She got through most of the way in to see that the enemy was not on the other corner end on the far side. Meaning he was at the corner against the wall, right on the other side of Yukari.

 _Oh man, um…_ Yukari thought about it. With his position, he's got the full vertical view on the entryway, any exposed bits through the door, he could fire at with full impunity. His focus on the door had to go...

* * *

Yashin focused hard on that doorway on the same side that girl climbed up and through. He aimed down the sights, semi-circular with the post and pointed downrange. Not that it really mattered, the high rate of fire on the Pa-Pa-Sha made it possible to just walk the fire onto the target.

He held his arm steady, his Mosin-Nagant slung over his shoulders in preference for a louder one. A deadeye with a submachine gun focused right on the wall. His finger was almost twitching, each throbbing second nagged on him for blood.

A flash of light flickered in the air in front of him, going right across the room. The target registered and he let loose his submachine gun, the rattling cracked through the air as he followed this target. It hit the ground.

 _Clack, clack_.

A metallic sound. Yashin glanced at it beyond the muzzle flashes and saw a magazine, its tip still with ammo, landing with force onto the ground after it was thrown across the room. He only realized his mistake as he rapidly focused back towards the doorway, only to see a girl charging towards him. He brought up his submachine gun to this girl, but her hand caught the barrel, forcing it away from her body. In her left hand, she held a strange contraption. Suddenly, this machine jumped and Yashin felt something push into his body like a jab. Yashin struggled to bring his PPSH towards this girl. A girl with a youthful face and hair that looked of a cotton candy texture. He continued pushing his weapon. Why was it so hard? Suddenly, he felt his arms feel like jello, a whooshing sensation overcame him.

 _Damn…_ Yashin thought back at the jab that hit him earlier and looked down. A small dart protruded out from his abdomen, penetrating through his blouse just above his ammunition belt. As he did, the girl ripped his submachine gun out of his weak hand and he fell back. With little strength left on his right arm, he picked at the dart, pulling it out and looking at the piece of engineering. "Son of a bi…."

* * *

Yukari threw the submachine gun across the room as the sniper fell still. She never understood how the human body reacted to the tranquilizer, but it seemed he was trying to say something to her before he passed out. A curse, a vow of vengeance? It didn't matter, the threat was dealt with. She breathed out in relief at this feat. However, Yukari moved on, she wasn't safe yet.

After collecting her thrown magazine and putting it back into her M3A1, she got out of the balcony, downstair back into the hallway. It was quiet now, just like how it was in the south when she passed through the first time. She walked steadily to the west door back into the main building. The key card lock never looked so enticing. She swept the card through and the door clicked open with routine.

Suddenly, the same, softer beep was heard again, all the way across the hall. Yukari quickly reached for the door button, but the door across the hall opened first.

"Cука!" Angry Russian voices shouted all the way through, echoing off the wall. Yukari reacted first as the door opened, firing her M3A1 downrange. No point in silence now. The .45 calibers rattled off with a _Da-Da-Da-Da_ as she fired from her hip.

The steady fire rate made it easy to keep on target as her bullet flew down. The Russians took cover, but two fell down onto the floor, hit. As soon as the door opened, Yukari ran.

Yukari frantically exited back to the main building. Their attacked Russians retaliated swiftly and brutally, bullets suddenly rained down the hall, right as Yukari escape the line of fire into the main building, the bullets smashing right into the walls and the sound echoed all throughout the building.

Russian voices sprung up all over the place. Shouting could be heard all around in chaotic fashion. Yukari ran, she had to leave, now!

Then the facility alarm went off. _Bwwwaaaooo….Bwwwaaaooo_. The siren blasted throughout the entire base, only eclipsed by men rousing to action. Loud rapid steps sounded upstairs from the quarters, stomping as they raced to the target. Yukari ran down the hall, trying to remember the map for which room she had to go. _This room?! No, this one?!_ She needed a way out of the hallway, soon the whole place was going to be here. She crossed and turned on a hall intersection before realizing there were three Russians in front. Quickly, she brought up her M3A1 and fired away as she ran back, the men sought for cover amidst the incoming rounds. Suddenly her M3A1 stopped blasting bullets, Yukari took a quick glance down and saw bullets still in the magazine, so why did it stop?

But the angry Russians now advancing changed her priorities and off she went. In front of her was the stairways to the second floor, and the stomping was getting louder as squads of cadets were coming down.

 _Damn it!_ Yukari knew she had no choice. With the incoming enemies in front and behind her in the hall, she threw herself to the closest door, forcing it open and she fell in, but got up and shut the door promptly.

She looked around the room. It was full of shelves and boxes. Food and supplies. Nothing of interest all over the area. It was all mundane equipment for everyday school activity.

" _Yukari! What are you doing in that room?!"_ Isabelle shouted loudly through the comms.

"I'm trying to get away from the Russians!" Yukari said, in a confused state. What to do, what to do-

" _That's a storage room! There's only one way in and out!"_

Yukari felt her heart halt and her blood freeze in place.

" _You're trapped!"_

Yukari panickedly ransacked the place. _C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon… now what?!_

She heard loud shouting outside the door. Then a body slammed against the door.

* * *

"Graaah!" The sergeant crashed through the door with his bot. Three senior cadets ran in, their grey trench coat and ushanka went in, aiming their PPSH sub machine guns. The armed quick-reaction force filed in, eight men were inside the storage room.

"Where is he?!" Malikov shouted as he examined the corners. They filled in the room, but there was no one inside.

"He couldn't just disappear from here! Find him!" the sergeant commanded and everyone looked around with more scrutiny. They were looking around nonsensical places for hiding places, like behind empty shelves and the such. Cardboard boxes filled with the school's food also stacked across the wall, with a rather enticing arrangement of spirits on a nearby shelf.

"Igor, knock it off, keep looking!" Igor's close friend, Komanov, said.

They nearly threw the place upside down if it wasn't for one of the new kid who piped up. "H-hey! There's an open window up here!"

Everyone gathered around where the cadet was, where he showed them a small arrangement of horizontal window near the roof. "Bullshit, no one could fit through there!"

"(It's the only way out of here!)" The cadet meekly spoke, though with certainty after breaking down the options.

The sergeant only took a moment to decide. "Move out and secure the exterior. Keep all eyes on the North end of the facility and get the Dragon into the air! The intruder could already be on his way out of our jurisdiction!" He shouted and everyone rushed out of the storage room. Everyone was eager to catch this raider, a breath in counter-espionage.

* * *

The door clacked shut as the last man left the room to its lonesome. All that was left was the wind blowing into the open window that everyone was interested in.

" _They're gone…"_ Isabelle whispered into the comms.

Yukari took a long inhale in her position, her only vision being the carry handle hole on this thing. She waited a few moments for certainty, then flipped the cardboard box off her while standing up.

She stood on top of the watermelon boxes below her as the cardboard box, with its watermelon markings, tumbled on the ground.

" _Can't believe that actually worked though,"_ Isabelle muttered through the comms.

"I guess anything's possible on the battlefield," Yukari sighed. She took this moment to inspect her M3A1. She looked at the open ejection port and checked the problem. There were no bullets in the chambering, yet there were plenty in the magazine. She used her finger and cycled the bolt, but it did not pick up a round. _A broken magazine follower?_ Yukari wondered. Still, she simply changed the magazine to a different one that was not beat up and prayed that was enough. "Alright, let's get out of here…"

" _They think you left towards the North side. The south side is probably going to be a bit quieter now provided you don't incite any more attention,"_ Nonna said, apparently hearing all that commotion earlier.

"Got it. I'm on my way!" Yukari said as she made her way out of the storage room. A helicopter whirred above with the crowd.

* * *

Isabelle kept her M1911 pistol at the steady, a M3A1 submachine gun at another side of the tractor as she waited steadily for the arrival. Nonna stayed on the computer, watching the blip get closer to their coordinates.

The tractor was parked on an edge of the large forest that made up part of the landscape. A tracked vehicle rented by the local farms for the day. It made good for bringing up all the materials and Yukari to the location. Still, there was a big risk of being spotted by the Russians, and that wouldn't end well for any of them.

"She is coming," Nonna said nonchalantly, not breaking away from the computer screen. Isabelle edged her head a bit higher for a view, flicking the safety on her pistol off. Amidst the rustling of the conifer trees, the wind whistling between the trees, and the little critters of the forest screaming their heads off, the ambience kept Isabelle on the edge for unusual sounds.

Soon she heard the plowing of the snow under boots.

"Flash!" Isabelle shouted in a hushed tone, taking her M1911 up and ready.

The noise stopped for a moment, she pointed her barrel towards the source of the sound.

"Thunder!" The familiar voice shouted, and Isabelle eased her breath.

She holstered her pistol, "Come in!"

The rapid footsteps approached. In the darkness, the dark suit made its worth and Yukari couldn't be made out until her glistening, relieved eyes flashed in front of her. "Hi! I'm back!"

"Get in here!" Isabelle said and Yukari complied, opening the door into the tractor.

"Tight fit here as always…"

"You had fun out there?" Isabelle said, reaching into the driver's controls and readying to start the tractor.

"Oh yeah…" Yukari wearily said.

"You weren't tailed now were you?"

"Nope, out of the Russian's hands!" Yukari said in an upbeat tone. "That helicopter was a real mess though! It kept sweeping back and forth the whole area, even the south! I had to crawl through the bushes to make sure it didn't find me!"

"Well at least you're back safe," Isabelle started the tractor, the gasoline rumbled along as usual and the tractor moved forwards under its power. "We'll set up camp deeper in the wilderness away from here. It's safer than in the cities with the Russians now aware of us. I'll call up the team back home on our status for the helicopter ride back when we land tomorrow."

"That sounds great Isabelle…" Yukari's voice started to slur off.

"We'll need you to write a report on what you saw as well so we can get an idea on what Ōarai is facing in this coming match," Isabelle said. No response came, "Yukari?"

Isabelle glanced towards exhausted girl and found she had steered off away into slumber. Isabelle sighed in relief, girl has it rough, and she deserved an early rest.

Nonna simply stayed on the computer in the middle, though she glanced between the two girls. Privately, she wondered how Ms. Katyusha was doing at this moment.

* * *

"Hmm?" Yukari woke up in a sleeping bag, eye somewhat clogged as she rubbed them. She got a grasp on her surroundings and found herself in a dark orange-fabric tent. The night has fallen upon them, everywhere was dark with the exception of the small campfire erupting outside the tent. Nonna was sleeping as well, though her body posture was still one of alertness than relaxation. Yukari got up, feeling she was quite rested. Though she couldn't see it, she could feel she was still wearing the SBS . Perhaps it was the only adequate warm clothes that was available to her in this weather.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Isabelle's voice was heard outside the tent.

Yukari opened the flaps of the tent and saw the diminishing fire on the ground, slowly becoming nothing but a pile of ashes. Isabelle was on the other end on a fallen tree, her hands were busy with a cell phone, laptop and a radio near her..

"Hello? Hawkins? Lee? Anyone?" She spoke into the mouthpiece of the radio and then held it up her ear. No response came through aside from the static. She then picked up the cell phone and dialed a number. She held it up on her ear for a few seconds. "Oh Christ…" She said dejectedly, putting the phone down while staring into the blank screen.

"Something wrong Isabelle?" Yukari surprised the girl as she almost swung around with her pistol in hand.

"Oh, Yukari, you're awake," Isabelle commented.

"Yeah…" Yukari felt a small yawn brewing, "what time is it?"

"4 o'clock in the morning, local time."

"Gosh, it's late… What's going on?"

Isabelle held up her radio. "Been trying for the last hour to try and contact Ōarai. Calls, radio transmissions, and even e-mail," she gestured towards the laptop. "Nothing. Can't get in touch with anyone?"

"What?" Yukari brought up her cell phone, ready to try it out herself.

"Try it."

Yukari dialed in a number, the first one that could come into her mind. She dialed in Miho's cell phone number and calle. The ring tones came in:

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

[…]

 _[Brrriiinnnnggg]_

 _[*Click*]_

 _[H-hello! This is Miho Nishizumi. I'm currently unavailable right now. Please leave a message!]_

Yukari looked at her phone, before thinking. "Wait, it's pretty late over there, right? Maybe everyone's just asleep!"

"Everyone? Even the cadets? They're expecting my signal tonight for a mission's success to bring the chopper for a ride back to the carrier from the airport. They have to have someone on the ready."

"Yeah… but," Yukari tried to find a reason, but it fell flat on that note. "Then, what do you think happened?"

"I don't know, Yukari..." Isabelle said, "but I'd imagine it's something extremely urgent."

* * *

 _ **Disclaimer: All poorly written Russians were done with the assistance of Google Translate. Also, the interpretation of Suvorov military school in this chapter are based on speculation after reading articles and watching videos of the facility.**_

 **And there we have it, the beginning of the Suvorov arc in my story!**

 **Quite exciting yes? I know I am. I've been planning to produce this chapter for quite a while, but got caught up on a Statistics midterm so I had to delay my usual Friday releases (not that they are immaculately planned to begin with) to today. Of course, now I have to worry about producing the next chapter, which will hopefully be as exciting as this one because reasons.**

 **Anyways, hope this chapter came off as enjoyable and, at the very least, made sense. It was a real change of pace even compared to the excursion against the British back in Chapter 13. However, I still find this scouting style very entertaining and great to drop lots of foreshadowing for future events. We'll get back to the real fighting and drama very soon though, so keep in touch.**

 **Thanks for reading and keeping up with my story** _ **Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament**_ **! If you like the story, don't be afraid to Follow and Favorite to keep up to date with the story. Now, I have to go study for my Organic Chemistry midterm this week, so see you all next time!**

 _ **Fun fact: There are three Russian names in this chapter that came from movies, following closely as possible to the roles they had in their respective movies. One of the movie is German and the other two are Russian. Have fun!**_


	21. Red Dawn

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 21: Red Dawn**

 _ **Five hours earlier…**_

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

 _*Knock Knock*_

The front door sounded. Miho rolled back on her desk chair, looked at the door, then looked at the time.

 _8 PM…_ Miho read off the clock dial. _I wonder who could it be?_

Miho stood up, still in her sky blue pajamas, and walked up to the door. She looked through the door's peephole, only to see large bronze-colored eye staring back. Miho giggled as she recognize the antics and undo the locks on her door.

She swung the door open outwards, the people behind stepping back, and saw her friends. "You girls!"

"Hi Miporin!" Saori merrily said in front of the group. She had her school bag on her, as well as a plastic convenience bag.

"Hello Miho," Hana did a small wave, she also had the same baggage as Saori.

"Evening," Mako said with some indication of nocturnal vitality, though she only had her own school bag.

"W-what brings you girls here?" Miho asked them.

"We came to check you on you, Miporin!" Saori said, "How are you? Did you rest easy?"

"Oh!" Miho was taken aback by her friend's concern. "Y-yes! I'm fine! I managed to sleep; when I woke up it was 5 o'clock though…"

"Five o' clock?!" Saori yelled out. Miho instinctively held a finger in front of her lips towards Saori, they had to consider the neighbors. "Five…? Miho, are you sure you're sleeping at night? Even Mako isn't like that. "

Miho bashfully chuckled, "I am. But, I dunno, I feel restless at night…"

"Only at night?" Hana asked.

"Yeah… I'm not sure," Miho was ready to ponder. "Oh! Please come in! I can get some tea ready an-"

"Don't worry about that, Miho," Hana said. "I'll make it for us."

"Oh, uh…thanks, Hana!" Miho relented.

The girls got in. "Pardon the intrusion," they said politely as they entered.

"By the way Miho, have you eaten yet?" Saori asked. "We brought some food from the store if you're hungry~!"

"Wow, thanks Saori!" Miho eyed the plastic bag and saw the ingredients inside.

"Yes! We can cook them and then eat, then when we're done, we can go over tonight's homework!" Saori said excitedly as she sat down near the low, yellow dining table on her knees. She opened her school bag and pulled out a small pile of papers up top. Miho saw the math problems written on it.

"Oh, thank you Saori!" Miho beamed as she took the papers.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Mako said as she sluggishly liquefied into a comfortable pile at the table. "That we ride around in our tanks, winning the national games, and are competing in an international exhibition match, and we're still here doing homework."

"Is there something wrong with that?" Saori asked. "Actually, why are _you_ complaining? Homework for you is a piece of cake!"

"I do it quickly so I can sleep early…" Mako sluggishly said.

"Well, maybe some curry would motivate you to stay up," Hana said, coming in with a tea set on a tray, the spout on the teapot steaming with the essence of the infusion wafting into the air, revitalizing the atmosphere.

"Right, well then," Saori said as she put away her contacts, and from seemingly nowhere, flipped out her red half-rimmed glasses onto her face. "Let's get cooking!"

* * *

 **Airspace, English Channel**

"How does he do that, sir?"

"Hmm?" Antov turned his head to the cadet on his right, a newbie in the group.

"That guy, uh…" the unfamiliar man said.

"Loza?" Antov said, referring to a close comrade sitting across the fuselage from them.

"Yeah, him sir," The recruit clarified. "How does he do that?"

"What do you mean?" Antov said as the place shook around slightly.

"Him asleep, like that. How can he do that like this?"

Antov looked up at Loza, his head nodded off on his own shoulder. The surrounding shook heavily again, their gear shook on their body with the force. When it all relaxed and everything became steady once more, Loza has not stirred from his rest.

"Kid, when you do enough jumps, you get used to this thing."

"Don't call me kid, sir," the recruit said.

"What's your name then, kid?" Antov asked the kid.

"Minolta, sir."

"This isn't your first jump, is it, kid?" Antov asked with some concern.

"No! I've got two jumps on me, sir," Minolta said.

"First time in the pathfinders?" The plane jumped again and the crew inside felt the turbulence.

"Y-yeah, my first jump in the pathfinders… sir," Minolta said. "I transferred in here two weeks ago. I've spent most of my time in the classes, so I didn't get to do any practice jumps before they put me with you guys here."

"Hey, don't worry!" Another member on the same side as Antov and Minolta, Ilham chimed in. "This team we're against don't have airborne. You don't have to worry about getting shot out of the sky!"

Ilham broke out in some sort of laughter, Antov chuckled too. Minolta looked at the two like they were crazy. Antov calmed down and patted a hand on Minolta's shoulder. "Do you remember your job, cadet Minolta?" Antov asked.

"Yes sir."

Antov used that hand and slapped the kid's back, hard. "Listen kid, don't worry too much about it. The most important thing right now is that you touch the ground alive, okay?"

"O-okay, sir."

"Don't worry too much about us, we're experts in this," Antov reassured the newbie while pointing towards the man first questioned, "Loza there has done more than seven jumps already."

"Seven ju-" Minolta was surprised. "What about you, sir?"

"Eh, five in the pathfinders. Loza is a special individual."

The plane rocked again as the structure wobbled along with the air pressure placed on the wing. All was well, the pilots were well trained in the Li-2 aircraft. Though the fuselage looked big enough to hold 28 people, a good amount of ground space was taken up by their equipment for the six people involved in this operation.

They've been flying for almost four hours now in the night. The only visible items in the fuselage and outside was the lights on the fuselage wall, the red light near the door on one end, and the light shining from smartphones that the smarter individuals brought with them. Usually in these nights, they could look out the windows and see Yak-9D escorting them, but they were not present today due to nonexistent air resistance. Aside from the deafening ambiance with the prop engines blaring outside, the inside was near silence as the chatter could only spread between neighbors without a headset.

However, in this minute of the hour, a transmission came in through the intercoms.

" _Five minutes to drop"_

Antov started unbuckling himself from the seat when Loza seemed to spring up and finished getting up in a concise, practiced movement

"Wha- he-" Minolta looked at Loza like a man back from the dead.

"Practice, kid," Antov got up and reached for his pack and weapon on the ground. The darn thing altogether weighed almost 35 pounds overall, and he slung this thing in front of him as his parachute pack was on his back at the moment, an arguably more important piece of equipment than even his rifle now. "Ready up, kid. We're going soon."

Minolta got up, snagging on a few straps and lines on the way as the rest of the crew got up and walked towards the door on the tail end of the fuselage. A crew by the door inspected each man carefully, seeing that they took everything they needed, before giving an okay sign to Antov. Antov gave an okay sign back.

The crew member then opened the door, a gush of air entered as the cabin depressurized. Wind gusts blew in and out as everything not bolted down waved with the changing gusts. The pathfinders stood firm, holding onto the handrails for balance.

"Ready up!" Antov shouted, though his voice could probably be heard through their headsets. "Equipment check!"

The men inspected their gear, each one behind the other and doubly so around.

"Sound off equipment check!" Antov shouted for confirmation.

"Six okay!" Meesh cried.

"Five okay!" Minolta shouted.

"Four okay!" Loza shouted firmly.

"Three okay!" Ilham cried.

"Two okay!" Boris said.

"One okay!" Antov finally said as he heard them count down. They were ready. "Alright listen, we were briefed on this before take off, but let's go over this once more since we got a newbie on our tail today!"

Some of the men in the back nudged number five in a teasing manner.

"So here's how we're going to do it!" Antov continued. "We'll be jumping out and conducting HALO. We get down there, set up the beacons for the assault team to land in precisely with their phase. Remember, this location is a carrier on a body of water. An inaccurate reading on those beacons, and we could be sending our boys straight into the Atlantic. Is that clear?"

"Ura!"

Antov looked at his watch.

8:43 PM.

 _Shit, we're behind schedule._ Antov rolled back his sleeve and prepared himself.

" _Two minutes to drop"_

The crew looked out the open door down. In the distance, they could see the light glimmer from the France cities and industry. A beautiful sight. But down below was just a pit of darkness, nothing was visible, not even the boats.

Antov privately wondered just how high they were from the visual reference. What if the enemy practiced blackout tactics?

" _One minute!"_

Antov looked at his team once more. Boris in front had beads of sweat building on the forehead exposed under his helmet. On that note, Antov brought up his jacket sleeve up and wiped his head, feeling the moisture getting absorbed onto the fabric. But as the minute ticked by, Antov eyed carefully both the red light staring right into him like a cyclops next to the door, and the sea below.

He saw the yellow glow of a city electrical light just as the light on the door turned green.

"LET'S GO!" Antov cried before jumping out the plane. Leaders lead the way.

As he jumped, he could feel Boris also motion forward.

It was in the moment he jump that he always questioned the pilot's on the intuition. What if they were off course by kilometers? The American paratroopers on D-Day back in World War II always come to mind on just how "accurate" these paradrops were. Then came the incident of '84, but Antov quickly shoved that back into the drawer.

Everytime he questioned though, everytime he's proven wrong. Now facing towards the ground, he could see the aircraft carrier these Ōarai girls call home. He was always astounded by the figure he saw on its length, more than 7 kilometers long!

Actually, now that he thought about it. Missing the drop by length was not the problem, it was by width, and the problem would be near non-existent if the plane flew in parallel over the location. Despite the six dropping out in separate times, the pathfinder's skill in free-fall eventually had them gliding side-by-side up above a few kilometers in the air. Antov glanced up and saw the Li-2 they had became acquainted with the last few hours turn around on its way home.

He looked at the men as they followed the will of gravity. Some had faces of cold stone as they anticipated the landing. Others had faces that still had an expression of the word they screamed out before flinging themselves out of a perfectly good airplane.

That was when Loza diverted from the group on his own initiative forwards.

" _Where is he going?!_ " Minolta screamed out into the headset for them all to hear.

"Loza's got his own plans, Minolta." Antov looked as Loza flew forwards ahead, away from the group by a long distance now. "He always does…"

Antov looked down on the ground, eyeing the extra large field of forests, plains, sand pits, and rivers as their designated drop zone.

* * *

 **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

"Why are we out here anyways? Nothing ever happens…" Nina said as she rubbed her wool gloves together. Her breath came out as fine mist of steam. "We even digged those fox holes because that British girl told us to, would we even need them?"

"Careful Nina…" Alina said to her co-loader. "You don't want Ms. Katyusha to throw you in that room do you?"

Nina shuddered hard among that mention. She was clinging onto a PPSh with a drum magazine, the little thing did provide its own sort of warmth despite it being way too big for her body. "Still… Ms. Nishizumi was sick today. You'd imagine before the match, they'll let us take a break to rest up as well…"

"Hmm… ye-"

"Is there something the matter?" A towering, accented voice stood above Nina and Alina. They froze as solid as a statue.

"N-nothing is wrong, Ms. Klara!" Nina recovered quickly, a valuable trait when you tend to offend your commander often.

Klara gave a rather innocuous smile that hid a lot of message, a smile that she had perfected from Nonna. A smile that indicates nothing malicious, yet nothing heartfelt as well. A cacophony of emotions stirred with that smile.

 _Creepy!_ Nina privately thought.

Klara finished whatever it was, then stood by the girls. "By the way, aren't you suppose to be on the patrol path? Digging those fox holes earlier today don't give you any extra breaks tonight."

"Eep! Uh, yes Ms. Klara! We'll resume at once!"

"Get to it," Klara said as the two girls picked up their weapons and continued. Klara giggled as she enjoyed teasing the two. They both have a rather special place in Katyusha's heart by crewing KV-tan.

Still, the Pravda student body was out guarding the garages this night, they alternated with the Saunders student every night. The seniors such as Klara tried to keep up discipline, but the consecutive nights with nothing eventful has started to make them complacent. Most of them are just lazing off now, waiting for their shift to be over against the non-existent enemy. Klara supposed they were just getting frustrated with all the work they have to put in. The new defense line in the dirt by the tank field roughly 100 meters from the tank garage's concrete block was quite controversial among the girls. They digged fox holes most of the morning, and they see nothing with it except as holes on the ground.

The British girl was insistent though, that they were "top notch defenses" in a case of invasion. Everyone thought she was over her head, but she managed to convince Katyusha, and her words were law.

Katyusha willed that Pravda students be in top notch, yet many are seen toasting about around heaters. Nonna was able to freeze everyone into shape and she did it all the time prior. Klara hoped she could meet up to Nonna's performance for the benefit of Pravda and Ms. Katyusha.

Klara sighed as she cuddled her own Pa-Pa-sha submachine gun. It was a very familiar feel, one she hasn't felt in a long, long…

Something ruffled through the air. Klara looked up. In the dark sky above, nothing was visible outside the stars. There was nothing low enough being illuminated by the street lights either. Just her imaginations? Maybe the silence of the night was starting to becom-

 _KRRSH_ , a combination of a fabric rip and tree bustling sounded behind the garages.

Klara stood up. The noise had a heavy weight to it, and it was clearly suspicious. She looked behind her and lost track of the other girls already as they went on their own business. She looked back at the direction of the noise. If she delayed too long, the source would be gone. And if it was a dangerous entity, then she would have let it go without contest.

Bringing up her PPSh-41, Klara checked the bolt to see if it was open and ready to fire. She held it carefully on her shoulder, the muzzle pointed down to the ground as she moved towards the noise.

In the back area of the garage, there were small semi-circle gardens built up by red bricks for decorations alongside the walls, but she took note of the large tree hanging around the area. Leaves and branches were scattered all over the ground near it, signs of disturbance. She looked up in the darkness up at the tree. It was dark, so she took out a flashlight and shined it above. A parachute snagged on top of the tree, the lines hanging down like a puppet master towards the harness, empty and unbuckled.

A metal clack of a gun clicked and prodded behind her.

"Не двигаться!"

"Ah!"

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

The landing was still harsh on the open plain. Antov opened his parachute up above, at an optimum altitude so that his free-fall came to a safe velocity before touching the ground. He bent his knees, rolled with velocity, but still felt his legs get whacked around with the landing. His gear did not help at all as his tumbling had the different pieces of gear be pushed around on him with the inertia.

"Gah…" Antov griped as he stood up. He unbuckled his gear with the quick-release button, the parachute falling back and his gear falling forwards into his arms.

He looked around for hostiles first. There were none, then he looked for his team. In distances several meters away from him, he could see the scattered group on the process of escaping their fabric entrapment as Antov rolled up the parachute back into its pack.

He then took up his SVT-40 semi-automatic rifle and cocked a round with a very satisfying _Shh-CLACK_ noise of the bolt. The rest of his now five-man team approach him.

"Set up the beacons," Antov said as he unpacked the large mechanical equipment from his pack. "In open spaces, roughly 200 meters apart from each other across the field. Keep them active for the next…" Antov checked his watch. 8:52 PM. "10 minutes, and keep them safe from possible hostiles. Ura?"

"Ura!"

"Alright. Get moving. We're running out of time."

The men scuttled off with their SVT rifles or PPS submachine guns with the beacons on their backs. Antov looked around his initial position. _Actually looks pretty safe here…_

So Antov set up the beacon. The main body of the beacon looked like a large blocky equipment that looked like a World War II radio set. On another part, Antov constructed an antenna with a radar dish net extending up from a tripod, pointed up into the sky.

Set up sturdily on the ground, Antov reached with his gloved hand to a button on the top corner of the box. A firm press and a click was felt. The machine whirred as it booted up its system. Then, a low-visibility red light glowed on the beacon, indicating its active status. Antov made sure it started to work before he took his rifle and made a distance from the beacon. Finding a decent pile of foliage, he crawled down with his semi-auto rifle in hand, waiting to snipe any possible intruders that so happen to approach the beacon.

He checked his watch once more. 8:57 PM. Antov hoped everyone else was doing alright. Time was running short for their part in the operation.

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

"Miho, you derive the formula to find the rate the speed is increasing." Saori said, pointing towards the sheet of paper Miho was working on.

"I, uh, what?" Miiho blundered as she stared at the ink on paper.

"Like this Miho," Mako muttered as she wrote it out on her paper. "See?"

"Ah, okay," Miho saw it, "Ha ha, I don't know how I'd get past high school without you girls."

"Yeah, you know all about military though, just like Emma and Yukari." Saori said.

"Well, Emma is a cadet, she's trained by the British military for her job," Hana pointed out.

"Yeah? Well no one was really convinced by what she asked for today, military experience and all." Saori pouted.

"Yes, it was a weird order…" Hana agreed.

"What happened?" Miho asked.

"Okay," Saori seemed pented up, "So in the morning, one of the first agenda of the day by her was for us to dig holes in the ground."

"Holes?"

"Yeah! Emma thinks it's needed just like those concrete road blocks we have now to keep us safe! Give us cover by putting people in it!"

"You mean fox holes?" Miho clarified.

"Yeah, that!"

Miho thought about it, "Well, it is strange… but it isn't exactly useless if she's talking like that… Depending on the design, it could protect the people in it."

"Strange? I dunno, they're just holes in the ground to me…" Saori pouted.

"Sorry, I guess I just have a very specific mindset, I guess."

"Being raised in a Nishizumi-style household and school would do that," Hana said as if commenting from her own experiences.

"Funny, you came here to get away from Sensha-dou too, remember that." Saori said. The girls laughed.

Still the thought that rejecting Sensha-dou would put her in a position way above Sensha-dou is perhaps the biggest irony of them all. It gives Miho no shortage of chuckle on how life was just weird like that.

Then she imagine if she was just a regular high school student. No more tankery, nothing. Her sister would probably be in her position right now regarding the tournament.

Her sister…

Miho can't shake an uneasy feeling about it all. No contact whatsoever form the last three weeks. Surely something happened? But if so, what was it? Miho shook her mind, distancing away from that to what was in front of her once more. Grabbing on any essence of the present right now.

"There seems to be some low flying airplanes around here, huh?" Hana commented. Miho grasped on it as she listened into the scenery outside. A loud whir could be heard outside through the closed, clear sliding balcony door.

"Maybe the Europeans just like their prop planes," Miho listened in.

"Prop planes?" Saori asked.

"Planes powered by propeller engines," Miho clarified. "Not jets. You can tell from the rumbling, whirring sound. Jets make a lot cleaner, but a louder, noise."

"Geez! You and Yukari, I can't tell that much of the difference between vehicles just by the sound!"

Miho chuckled. She wondered just how Yukari was doing in Russia. _Hope she's alright._

The noise overhead grew louder, the rumbling somewhat beating down to the ground with its whir. Miho thought about it suspiciously. It was way too loud for a civilian single-engine prop airplane.

* * *

 **Airspace, English Channel**

Nikolai flicked open his lighter, then closed it, then opened it, then closed it. Each time a _Qwink_ sound played as it opened, then closed with a _Chink_.

"Gosh Nikolai, calm yourself," Vasiliy said to his right.

"Sorry," Nikolai said, controlling his hand trembling.

"Get yourself a fidget cube next time," Vasiliy said as he leaned back to relax.

The plane buckled in the air, shaking everyone onboard. It was a claustrophobic environment, everyone's legs were touching one another, and everyone's ass was touching each other. But that's how you fit 35 cadets onto a TB-3 four prop-engine aircraft, Nikolai supposed.

Suddenly, there was a physical shift in weight as the tail dipped slightly. Everyone onboard almost slid off with the change had they not gripped on the handrails. The pilots slowly brought the plane on the level ground.

"What was that?!" Someone cried out.

"Those gliders must've been cut loose," someone else answered.

"Good riddance," a voice to Nikolai's left said. He looked and saw his senior, Albert, mumbling about. He looks very bored from the flight.

The airborne cadets of 1st Platoon in this special company strung along with the ride, now a lot smoother without the gliders dragging them along. Everything was dark, but their eyes had gotten adjusted with the current light level. So when the red light gleamed on, it caught the eye of everyone on board.

" _Five minutes to drop,"_ the intercom blared out, able to be heard despite the noise.

 _Well, here we go…_ Nikolai thought.

"Get ready!" The platoon commander, Viktor, cried. Everyone in the fuselage stood up.

"Welp, here we go," Vasiliy said. "Don't lose your grip."

Viktor walked down and forth, making sure everyone was ready. Nikolai took the moment to look outside the plane through what little vision he has. The dark sky in a typical exercise would be accompanied with a flight of Yak planes for protection. Today there was only one, though colored in a referee painting to indicate it was not here on a combat role, but a regulatory one.

Viktor soon made his way around "Check equipment!"

Everyone inspected their parachute packs and put on their necessary equipment like their helmets and weapons. Everyone checked each other and made their confirmation, giving their thumbs up. Confidence in their gear was a must for what was going to come next.

Viktor soon made his way to the gun turrets on the rear of the fuselage, opened up and exposed to the air. In a typical operation with concerns of interceptions, there would be gunners on the 7.62 mm DA machine guns, but they were done away with the low air risk. Viktor climbed out into the gun turret and sat on the edge, outside the fuselage into the air. With the wind blowing into his face and helmet, he held a stop hand sign to the people below, watching him.

He sat up there until the pilots gave them the next signal.

" _Two minutes to drop_ ". The intercom blared, and Viktor's hand signal became a beckoning gesture. The men began climbing out of the gun turret.

Nikolai gulped. Albert in front of him yawned, hand over his open mouth as he walked forwards. The men kept climbing out the fuselage, out into the open. Nikolai kept shaking his head on this, the guys in the pathfinders had a more comfortable jump position with their DC-3 knockoff.

Soon Albert was climbing out the gun turret, Viktor helping him out. Nikolai stared up the gun turret mount. He closed his eyes and took a breath. _Goddamn it sonofabitch_ , he cursed his situation and climbed out.

The wind blasted into his face, the only exposed part of his skin now, as he clutched hardly on the fuselage grips. The plane looked motionless in the pitch darkness, but he knew they were traveling more than 200 kilometers per hour through the air.

"Let's go Nikolai!" Vasiliy cried from behind.

"God damn it!" Nikolai replied back as he moved up the fuselage outside. He gripped the handholds all his might as he crawled himself forwards the first few feet. The right wing, blending in with the dark sea, was below him and from the fuselage top, Nikolai lowered his legs until he felt the sturdy metal construction on the wing exterior. Keeping his left hand gripped onto the fuselage rails, he walked forwards on the wing outside as the propeller blared in front. On the wing, cluttered near the fuselage, were roughly eight men already on the wing. Nikolai walked close enough towards the man in front, then looked back and saw Vasiliy taking up position behind him.

Nikolai stood there as everyone else moved up to their positions on the TB-3 wings. _Goddamn it Nikolai, what in the hell are you doing on the wing of a plane?!_ Nikolai berated himself, despite the fact that this wasn't the first time he's done this. But every time he does this, he feels very, very fucked.

He clung on so hard he almost forgot to release when Viktor gave a signal, a green glow emitting of his body from his inside. Upon that, the men released their grips on the fuselage and proceeded to let themselves fall off the wing.

"HOLY SHIIITTT!" Nikolai screamed internally as his body slid off the TB-3 wing and found himself in free-fall. As soon as he felt the wing left leave behind him, he yanked on the parachute release cord.

The parachute extended after a good drop and a sudden force pushed him up as the parachute caught the air. Nikolai felt his descent drastically slow down. He looked down and saw the long strip of an active community on a carrier in the middle of the sea, just as the briefings explained before they took off. The carrier looked beautiful with the lights like that of Moscow. He looked around, everyone in 1st platoon has their parachutes deployed. In the air, they all looked like a bloom of jellyfish floating mindlessly in a suspension.

Nikolai looked up towards the neighboring TB-3 plane. On it, the cadets from 2nd platoon were just dropping off as well, those mad men.

Nikolai could see a large field in the middle of the carrier that was their destination. They closed in and he could make out the bushes, the grass, and the other terrain details. Large plains on the bottom proved enticing landing positions for the cadets, though the unlucky may find themselves snagged on the trees.

However, a sudden, heavy gust of wind blew through the airborne cadets. "Agh!" Nikolai cried as his parachute swayed with it. The wind started to drag him away from the group. As he tried to reorient the parachute, another heavy gale came through and he found himself being towed with the wind. He, along with the other cadets, got carried off with the wind a fair distance away from their original position. _C'mon! Turn!_ Nikolai continually pulled on the parachute lines. He soon came to a halt and heading back towards the ground, a problem now that he was no longer on top of the drop zone.

He looked down to find himself landing right on a residential area. The open road for cars and the suburban housing did not bode well with his well being.

* * *

"Crap!" Albert cursed as he found himself landing right into a pond in the residential backyard. "You've got to be kidding me!"

He thrashed, tugged, and cried out, but he could not divert his path and landed right into the body of water. He felt himself go under and quickly pressed on the emergency quick-release button on his pack and his gear fell apart, freeing his body.

Albert swam up and gasped for air, he looked around and got his bearing. The pond was not so large, a man-made decoration than a land feature. Something slick brushed up against him before swimming away. Albert looked down and saw a large amount of orange kois, with various patterns of white and black on them, swimming around in the pond.

 _Some aquarium_ , Albert thought. An aquarium that had his gear. Albert took a breath and dived down. Though dark, he felt around for something unnatural. He failed and got up for air, then went back down. He did this three times before he gripped something like a strap, and pulled the heavy item up to the top. Albert dragged it to the edge and chucked it over the edge onto the ground, then he himself climbed out of the pond.

Albert's clothes were wet and heavy, he felt water drip out under his helmet onto the ground and himself. He was miserable, he was cold, and this was possibly the second worst day of his life. After a short break, he got up and grabbed his pack. He checked his equipment inside, then something caught his eyes. He looked up and saw an old lady watching him from the backyard of the house he landed behind, her grey hair with hair rollers could be made out in the darkness.

Albert looked at this women for a second, then he put a finger up to his lips towards the women. "Sshh."

He then gathered his gear and made his way out the backyard.

* * *

Nikolai saw the power lines and thought it might be the end of him. His parachute snagged on the line as he made his descent, and the pendulum motion of the stuck parachute and his harness almost sent him face first into the wall in front. He turned in a moment and crashed with his arms, absorbing the force to a more suitable location.

However, Nikolai was left dangling there in the middle of the suburban road. He looked down and found himself only a few feet from the ground, so he pressed his release latch and the equipment became undone. He fell onto the ground softly, though his equipment crashed down.

He unholstered his Tokarev from his belt holster and looked around for any enemy. Nothing in sight, no movement in fact other than the rumbling of the TB-3 plane engines above. He then picked up his pack and moved on, trying to recall where he was on this blasted ship.

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

"It's getting late. Look, Mako's already dozing off." Saori said, pointing towards Mako on a lap pillow

"Not only, she already has," Hana said.

"Well, I suppose. Thank you all for stopping by to check on me…" Miho said, appreciating the time the girls spent with her.

"You think you'll have problems sleeping tonight, Miho?" Saori asked her.

"Oh don't worry, I'll try my best to get a full night sleep to-"

 _CRASH!_ A loud impact came from the balcony. The girls, except Mako, jumped up startled.

"What was that?!" Saori cried out.

The noise outside became a series of grunting, struggling, then another crash.

Miho dashed and opened the balcony door. A large fabric has caught onto the safety rail on the balcony. Miho looked down and saw man struggling, dangling from midair.

"Let's go help him!" Miho said as she prepared herself.

"Excuse me, Miporin?" Saori asked. "You did just see him crash into your window from the sky, right?!"

"I know!" Miho quickly put on a jacket over her pajamas "But that doesn't mean we can't help!" She said as she then rushed out the door, forgetting to lock or close it.

"Wait Miporin!"

Miho heard Saori call for her as she ran out, running downstairs. She reached towards the back of the apartment and found the fabric hanging down. Except the man was gone, the lines were broken off and all that was left was a dangling harness. Miho looked around, the man was really gone, there was footstep impressions on the grass where he scampered off. As she was outside, she heard the loud, growling noise of the engines above. Miho gazed up into the sky.

She saw the large bloom of open fabric floating down the sky towards the direction of the school. Miho was taken aback, _what was this?_ An army has come to the town.

Miho reached down for a phone, but recalled she left it in the apartment. She ran all the way back up, throwing the door open as she reached it.

"Miho? What's wrong?" Hana asked.

"We need to let the team back at the school know, now!"

"Know what?!"

* * *

 **Streets of Ōarai, Ōarai Carrier**

Nikolai looked at his map of the carrier, Russian text were accompanied with small Japanese captions for field translation. He was alone, the cadets landing in the residential were just scattered all around. He shifted his shoulder as his Mosin sling started to slide off again.

The dark streets were lit up by the small cone of illumination from the street lights along with a low glow of the moon, covering the area like a filter piece. Nikolai saw a figure move in front of him, the figure produced a shadow in the lighting. Nikolai pulled out and steadied his Tokarev.

"Mountain!" Nikolai cried out. The figure froze and looked towards him.

"Shilka!" The voice cried out, it was Albert. Nikolai holstered his gun and went over to him.

As he approached, he found Albert soaked and dripping wet, a trail following him as the droplets drip off. "Don't ask," Albert said, and Nikolai dropped the subject. "You know where we are?"

"I know we're in this sector here…" Nikolai pointed at the map towards a residential area port from the drop zone. "But not the exact street."

"Christ, you got a c-"

"Mountain!" A voice cried out.

"Shilka!" Nikolai and Albert cried out, their weapons drawn towards the voice, but steadied with the response. A familiar man came out.

"Hey."

"Vasiliy?"

"Man, it's good to see you two."

"As you, Vasiliy." Albert asked

"We better hurry. I landed near the residence area and they're making a fuss about it. Not too long before the whole place knows we're here."

"Right," Nikolai said as he looked at the map again. "Now tell us how to get out of this forsaken place."

"Well," the three started walking down the street, "look out for landmarks to get our bearings," Albert said. "Keep an eyes peeled for bridges, farmhouses, roads, trees…buildings."

The two other men looked at him funny as they stared around in the middle of the suburban zone, full of buildings. Nikolai simply looked back at the map. "Wonder if the rest of the folks are just as lost as we are."

They walked a few paces, "We're not lost, Nikolai. We're in Ōarai."

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

The paratroopers all landed in groups around the area. The first thing they did upon landing was securing the parachutes if they could. Once the parachutes were packed crudely back into its pack, they went on to their combat equipment.

The airborne cadets took out their weapons, unfastening them from their combat pack. A loud arrangement of bolts clacking and stocks locking sounded as PPS-43 submachine guns, M44 Mosin-nagant carbines, and DP-28 machine guns were all locked and loaded. The few experienced ones also checked their personal sidearms, ranging from the issued Nagant revolver and Tokarev, or even M1911A1 for those willing to spend. Once the firearms were set up, they took out smoke grenades out of their packs and fastened the release levers on the combat gear. They then filled out the pockets on their gears with the appropriate ammunition type for their weapon for fast reloads. Helmets knocked as the submachine gunners lightly whacked their PPS magazine feeds against the helmet to seat the rounds, then lock them in their weapons.

Those finished readying up set out to form a perimeter line around the cadets still setting up. Viktor coordinated the efforts of 1st platoon, everyone readying up in a span of a few minutes.

"Mountain!" One of the cadets cried as they saw the figure approached.

"Shilka," Antov said as he walked towards the platoon. As he did, the cadets nearby stood at attention and saluted. Antov saluted them back. "Where's your commander?"

"Right here, sir," Viktor replied as he made his way through the cadets towards the pathfinder.

"Glad to see you made it, Viktor," Antov said, extending an open hand. Viktor took it and shook. "What's the situation?"

"Oh, it was all good until a few minutes ago. Everyone jumped without a hitch, but a quarter of my platoon got caught in a crosswind on the way down and are scattered across the place."

"Did any of them fall off the ship?"

"No, the referee plane would've caught that."

"Well, still not looking good for them," Antov analyzed. "This is a controlled environment. They're no good off course."

"Regardless, the operation must go," Viktor said as he looked back at his cadets.

"What about the gliders?" Antov asked. "How are they doing?"

"They haven't fallen apart mid-air, so that's nice," Viktor said, Antov chuckled lightly. "They'll be making a circle before landing to bleed off speed, gives us some time to initiate the assault."

"Great," Antov looked at his watch. 9:13 PM. "Alright, you know your duties. We'll guide the gliders once they've arrived. Go!"

"Roger that. Wish us luck!" Viktor said before departing for his team. He approached them and gestured. "1st platoon! Move out!"

Antov raised to his headset. "Minolta, any words on 2nd platoon guys?"

" _T-they're heading out. The full team's here_ , sir,"

"Good, send them out. Keep an eye for stragglers, some from 1st platoon got separated." Antov said. So far so good…

* * *

 **Miho's Apartment, Ōarai Carrier**

"They're not picking up, Miporin…" Saori said, the phone dialing twice already. "I'll send a message on text!"

"That's not enough!" Miho said, hastily changing into her tanker uniform.

"Miho, you don't plan to-"

"Yes, I'm going over there!"

"Miporin! You said it yourself, there were dozens of them coming from the sky!"

"And I'm not doing any good here!" Miho said, fastening her buttons. "Now, are you coming with me?"

"I'll come along," Hana said.

"Uh, umm," Saori tried to make up her mind. "What about Mako?" She gestured towards the still-asleep girl.

"She'll be safe here," Miho said, now putting on her boots.

Saori looked between Mako and Miho. "Jeez! There's something really wrong with this whole Tankery thing! She might not be happy to have missed this, y'know?"

"On the contrary, she would probably be not as happy either if we wake her now…" Hana suggested.

"Good point…"

"Let's go!" Miho said, dashing out of the door.

* * *

 **I know I left this all in some tense scenarios, but something I found that was even more shocking than the plot line I have in my head is just** _ **how**_ **Soviet paratroopers were expected to jump from a TB-3 bomber (which was one of their standard paratrooper plane). Youtube it!**

 **But our fellow Suvorov's airborne counterpart has made their move! What will Miho and her team do next? Will they be annihilated? Will they beat back the Russians? Or will the gliders contain some sekrit document of prototype tanks that they could use?!(no it won't). This whole chapter was exciting to write, and I think I lost counts on the numbers of work I** **got inspired by or referenced a work in this and the next chapter.**

 **Anyways, next chapter already feels like it's going to be a doozy. I was actually on vacation the last week and had little to no internet connection, so I had plenty of offline time to start writing it… but still need time to refine the whole thing. I already have a start and end goal for this and I'm driving this tank all the way to the end!**

 **Alrighty then, that's about it! If you made it this far and haven't followed or favorited yet, feel free to do so if you want updates when I add more chapters. Its Summer break here, and I got lots more free time to write up this story.**


	22. Rising Action

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 22: Rising Action**

 **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

"So Ms. Katyusha was like 'If you fail your duty, fork over 50 rubles!'"

The small gathering of girls laughed at the impression. Mona recomposed herself from the little show as she clutched onto the issued PPSh.

Alina laughed for a moment, then caught herself and looked around cautiously. "Shh! Quiet! What if Klara hears you!?"

"Speaking of which," Aisha asked, "Where is Klara?"

"I haven't seen her..." Mona said.

"Actually, has any of you seen Nina either?" Alina thought.

"Maybe being grilled by Klara?" Aisha said. "She has a tendency of being caught like that."

"Still," Anna said, "it's not like Klara to be absent for so l-"

She paused mid-sentence.

"What?"

"Shh!" Anna said as she focused hard on the horizon. The girls followed her gaze. They stared out into the tank field, active in the day but now silent like a hibernating bear. The darkness bled in as the lights on at the tank garage kept them at bay.

"I don't see anything."

But Anna kept staring off. "There's something moving out there…"

The girls looked back again, still trying to see what Anna was seeing.

"Call the others," Anna gesture to Mona.

Mona looked at Anna funnily, but she flipped her phone to the contacts and got to the numbers. The number was reserved for emergencies only, with the few going straight to Captain Kay, Anchovy, and Ms. Katyusha herself. She hesitated on pressing the call.

A startling crack blasted in the air. Everyone flinched. The vicious sound rattled through the air. There was no order, no pattern, it all came in one continuous pattern straight towards the girls.

The first few whistles came in, cracking onto the garage walls, sending bits of dust and various materials into the air on impact. Glass shattered as windows and lightings got caught in the cross-fire. Self-preservation kicked in and the girls fell flat onto the concrete. "Get down!" Mona cried as she flung herself down under this new terror. The cracks came in at a speed they could feel the ripple in the air.

"Gaah!" Aisha's voice cried. Mona looked and saw Aisha clutching onto her right arm, rolling about with her eyes clenched shut in pain. Alina tended to her as the situation unfolded.

Mona was down on the ground, her friend was hurt, and above them felt like a blanket of death, the red tracers outlining its boundaries. She looked to the sides of the garage and saw the other Pravda students on duty rushing into the scene. A few were hit on the way, and they fell down gripping on their impact points. Some of the girls, designated medics with white bands with red cross on them, started to drag away the wounded students away from the field of fire.

Mona reached for her phone, it was absent, missing from her possession. She scanned the ground, feeling the darkness seep with the only lights now the tracers dancing above them like a night show.

A dim light beamed up in on the ground, one with a hue familiar in the digital age. _Cell phone!_ Mona instinctively rolled on the ground towards it and picked it up. She then crawled towards the concrete roadblocks set up by that British girl a few days ago. Suddenly, those blocks felt very important to her survival. The other girls started to stack behind the piece, hugging it close as the only wall between them and the bullets that were raining on them.

Safe, crouching behind their man-made cover, she peeked over the top to see the people who are causing this mess. A few proactive students were already raising their weapons over the concrete and firing back. Out there in the blank darkness, lights blinked in dancing motion like a Christmas decoration. The lights covered the entire landscape as the rounds whistled by. Aside from the zips of the round, the blasts of the firing congested the air. The rhythms of each weapon could be made out. An eccentric _BZ-ZT-ZT-ZT-ZT_ sounded from a submachine gun, and a stunning _DA-TA-TA-TA-TA_ sounded from a machine gun. Accompanying these repetitive noises were the loud _BANG_ of a rifle round that sounded outside the standard patterns. A round cracked by in front of Mona on the concrete, the impact of the dummy round sent dust and particle upwards to her face, forcing her back down.

Mona opened her phone, its light reflecting the blue background. She fumbled around the touch pads, small for her trembling hands. She impatiently saw the icons flick onto contacts. Mona picked a number, any one. She didn't pay attention to the names, it didn't matter now.

The return fire intensified as the Pravda girls got together. Their fire made up a good amount of volume, though its effect was unclear. One of the Pravda girls readied her submachine gun, brought it up to aim above the concrete block, then Mona saw a tracer round plant right into her belly. The girl fell back as though she was sucker-punched, the submachine gun clattering on the ground. She cried out, gripping on her abdomen as a medic came and dragged her away.

The concrete block took the brunt of the rounds, each round mercilessly cracking onto the material. The phone rang a few times. _C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, C'mon, C'mon!_ Mona pleaded.

The instance the phone clicked with a connection, Mona shouted, "HELP US!"

* * *

 **Apartments, Ōarai Carrier**

"Ow!" Kay instinctively took the phone away from her ear in response.

"Mm? What's up?" Naomi looked up from her dimly lit desk. Alisa also stirred from her silver-coat laptop on her bed.

Kay gave them a "shush" gesture and put her ear back on the phone. "What's going on?" She asked with a serious tone.

The chatter from the phone could be heard outside the phone's ear shot, and it wasn't on speakers. "SOMEONE OUT THERE IS SHOOTING US!"

Kay took a moment and digested the comment. She got up from her bed, phone still on her ear as the girl on the other end continued shouting and pleading for help. Kay walked towards the apartment window and opened it up.

In the distance, the rattling noise of machine guns and rifle fire sounded off in the neighborhood. Each _BANG_ and _DRT-T-T-T_ blasting around the air proudly and showing the world of their presence. Naomi and Alisa got up on this message.

"Suit up!" Kay shouted in the room. "Codeword: Cobra!"

"Roger that, Kay!" Alisa and Naomi shot from the bed and headed to the closet, changing out of their pajamas into their tanker uniforms along with a hard steel M1 helmet, rather than the softer tank helmet. Once done, they took their weapons in their closet, Kay and Alisa a M1A1 Thompson for each while Naomi received her M1903A4 Springfield rifle.

Kay took up her Thompson, clacked the bolt back into its open position, ready for a magazine to be inserted. "Alisa, Wake everyone up on third floor! Naomi, the second! I'll get the first!"

"Roger that, Kay!" Alisa said as she cocked her Thompson into the same state that Kay has.

"Got it, Kay," Naomi said as she slung her M1903A4 rifle.

"Let's go!" Kay opened the door and the girls spread about. On their floor, the second, Naomi started pummeling on the doors, loudly, then screaming the code word "Cobra" to the rest of the Saunders student. Alisa and Kay sprinted off to the stairs and went their own directions. Alisa headed to the third, which housed the students of Anzio, Chi-Ha-Tan, and Continuation.

Downstairs housed St. Gloriana and Pravda, and Kay rushed through that with her weapon in hand, loudly banging on each door. "Cobra! Cobra, people! Cobra!"

She ran down the hall banging each door, crying out the codename as loud as possible on each door. As she went on, the doors she passed by opened up. Some were girls alert and ready, some were clueless and wondering what the heck was going on while still in their sleep wear.

Kay reached a door and it opened right as she was about to pound on it. Darjeeling stood in front of her with a cup of tea.

"Some refreshment for your run?" Darjeeling asked the energetic, but breathless Kay. Kay stared at the cup for a second before taking it and slurping it down without a second thought.

She put it back on Darjeeling's plate. "Someone's attacking the school, get ready."

"Will do," Darjeeling said calmly as she closed her room door.

Everyone was stirring about, sending the message. Kay could hear the commotion upstairs as well. Kay ran back towards the apartment lobby area when she came across a midget. Oh, wait...

"Kay! How dare you wake me up!" Katyusha was still hastily putting on her tanker uniform, with her black helmet on top. Kay looked at Katyusha and wondered if she could even hold a submachine gun, even a folded up MP40.

"Sorry, Katyusha! But you do know what's going on, right?!"

"Yes! But you'd figure my team would call ME first!" Katyusha shouted among the commotion. She sounded slightly heartbroken.

"We'll settle that later, there are more important tasks at hand! Group up your team in the lobby!"

"Right!" Katyusha scampered off in the crowd. Despite her size, she made a good leader when her team actually listened to her.

The entire building was alive as the students were rudely awakened by the messengers. Stomps could be heard as the feet battered about on each floor. There were screaming as the girls organized and bumped around each other in the stairs. Kay emerged from the hall into the lobby to see a large gathering of students, each grouped up according to their school with their uniforms.

If anyone else saw this scene, they'd think it was a school mutiny. The load of girls wearing their own colors and toting around weapons of war was a sight to behold. Even Kay found herself baffled to find herself leading a fire team. It was one thing to command over platoons of tanks, it was a completely different story for a platoon of girls.

Still, as the girls of Continuation, Pravda, and Saunders filled the lobby, their respective team captains got to work trying to organize the batch as planned. The crowd was shifting as each leader called out for their team's attention. Katyusha crying out from atop a table to get her team in order for instance.

"Alright, Saunders! Right here!" Kay boisterously shouted on a corner of the room. The large glob of Saunder students, wearing their signature olive-drab jackets and black shorts. "Rally up and-" Something caught her eyes on the hallway entrance for the first floor rooms. "ohmygod Darjeeling, what are you wearing?"

Darjeeling and her trio; no, the entire St. Gloriana students, were wearing a khaki uniform, the type one would see in a desert campaign full on with shorts and rolled up sleeves. On their head was a flat helmet that looked like an explorer's hat, with the brims shining with the metal alloy it was made out of. Darjeeling looked proud and is enjoying the uniform very much, while the rest of the students are wearing it with a sense of awkwardness as they stood out from everyone else.

"'A change is as good as a rest,'" Darjeeling said calmly, though with her eyes gleaming, as she wielded a STEN submachine gun. "It is time we fought not as tankers, but in the boots as the queens of the battlefield!"

"Yes, that is, Ms. Darjeeling," Pekoe, who seemed to begrudgingly going along with her antics. "But we're not fighting the Afrika Korps here…"

"Hmm, hmm," Darjeeling ignored the naysay, "'A danger foreseen is half-avoided.' Besides, these uniforms are quite fancy for us, aren't they? We should make this a part of our utility outfit!"

"Yeah, whatever," Kay butted through the conversation. "Get your girls in gear and get ready to move out!"

* * *

 **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

"Oh my gosh! They're getting closer!" Lana cried a distance away as Mona reloaded her PPSh, again, after her second drum magazine jammed up on her. The large disks of ammunition were heavy and bulky, and they jammed occasionally too.

Mona peeked out the side of her cover. In the distance, she could see the flashes dancing about still in the darkness. But much closer, she could see figures running about with weapons in their arms. They looked like ghosts, fading in and out in the darkness as they moved about. She could make out their weapon, their helmet, and their faces as they stare right back towards her. The faces, dark under their helmet with only the reflection off their eyes to deal with, did not emote as a group got down to the ground and fired off their weapons. As one group did, another started moving forwards, just like in a tank battle where one tank kept an overwatch as the others moved into a better position. The closest group could not be more than 200 meters away from their position, a distance that looked way closer than it felt like.

Injuries were soaring among the stationed girls. There were 25 students at guard per time slot. Half that amount was already cut down by the fire, in pain and combat-ineffective. Some rounds hit light, others hit hard. Several girls were lucky and a round hit them, they flinched, and they were able to recompose themselves for another effort. Those were most likely the submachine gun rounds like that of the PPSh, but several of the hits sent girls straight to the ground and numbed in pain. Mona could only look back at them as crawling medics came at them and dragged them away with haste, their time here was done.

Mona poked out with her submachine gun and fired a few aimed bursts towards the other end. Despite her volume of fire, she couldn't hope to hit anything accurately from here, but it was all she had. As Mona went back into cover, the bullets became heavily attracted to her location. She waited impatiently for the fire to abate.

Mona looked towards the garage area and saw a group of girls run from the right side. There were maybe 20 girls coming. They weren't wearing Pravda uniforms, but the dark blue uniform of Ōarai.

"About time you girls got here!" Mona yelled out, eager for more reinforcements.

"Yeah, we could hear the commotion 'cross town!" Shinobu said as she steadied her MP40. "Wow, it's like you have an entire army raining on you!"

"We're not going to miss it for the world, Duck!" Noriko shouted, holding up a submachine gun. "Forwards with GUTS! Let's go!" And with that, Noriko vaulted the concrete block, with the rest of her team following forwards to the prepared positions in front.

"Wow… they're crazy…" Mona thought as they ran into the hail of gunfire. She then turned to the next set of girls, "What about you girls?!"

"W-we have to maintain public o-order!" Sodoko muttered out, though she was trembling under the whole commotion. "T-The fastest way to restore order is to f-finish this! Gah!" A round flew right above.

"Yeah? Well, get over there and lay down fire with everyone else!" Mona pointed to another part of the area.

"All the way over there?! This is insane!" Sodoko continued to grumble as she along with Nozomi and Moyoko ran off towards the direction as tracers blitzed in the air.

"W-wow, so this is what it's like to be shot at…" Nekota muttered. "It's so different than in a tank!"

The Anteater team agreed. "Right, well, we're not gonna get any kills here, spread out and start shooting!" Momoga shouted. "Best kill count buys dinner tomorrow!"

So those girls ran off to their own stations.

"I suppose we're the 'normal' ones here?" Satoko said, clutching on a MP40. Behind her were two group of girls with a machine gun each.

"Yeah, spread out. You're no good bunched up here. One machine gun on the right here and the other on the left, like we planned! Go!"

"Right! C'mon Leopon!" the girl said as the four ran off. The one remaining, whom Mona remembered as Hippo team, started setting up their machine gun here.

Saemonza held up her rifle as she stared out into the wilderness at the enemy. "Just like the Sengoku samurais with Tanegashimas!" She cried out as she fired a shot from her Kar 98k. Caesar stayed by her side with the MP40, though she was concerned on covering the other two. Erwin set up the MG34's bipod on the concrete block, with Oryou preparing a belt in the receiver. Erwin then took aim with the stock on her shoulder. With a firm pull on the lower end of the double-crescent trigger, she fired the MG34.

* * *

The incoming long stream of green tracer rounds indicated heavier resistance.

"Aw hell! That's an MG to the left!" Lavnov cried out. The DP machine gunner shifted his firing direction closer to the source of MG fire, his red tracers seemingly interlocking with the green.

The MG34's tracers raked through the ground. The 900 rounds per minute fire rate put up noticeable traces on the ground with each impact. Two troopers in the line took a few rounds to the chest, they crumbled in pain.

"Focus fire on that MG! Go!" Viktor ordered as he himself picked up his SVT-40 and tried to get a bead on the distant machine gunner. Then another series of bursts came out on the right side. Two machine gunners were firing into the darkness. Evasive maneuvers were needed!

"Spread out!" Vikor cried, "Don't let them get a bead on your muzzle flashes! Keep moving!"

The rifleman and machine gunners took the hint, and picked up moving. The source of fire on the other end intensified. The belt-fed MG34 machine guns supplemented a lot of firepower, especially over their DP machine guns that only shoot out at 550 rpm with a 47 round drum magazine. At this rate, the Ōarai girls were about to gain fire superiority.

Then new tracer fire came in, red colored from the right side of the garages.

"Incoming riflemen! Antalov! Get your squad onto the right side and flank!"

* * *

The new source of fire came in not as loud, single rounds like that of bolt-action rifles, but in a rapid tone. Not quite like a machine gun, but not like the bolt-action rifles either. The girls looked back at this new commotion to see a new cavalry arrive. The instructors were here, each owning a bold weapon in their arms as they ran forwards, swinging the wooden form to fire a round as the moved. One of them dived behind the concrete block close to Mona, who first noticed the split hair color of blonde and coffee brown.

"You!" Mona cried.

"Yes! Me, you blimey bong heads!" Emma cried out as she loaded the open bolt of her M1 Garand with a clip. The two other Americans spread out among the parts. Emma and one of the instructors, Kyline, brought up their Garands to fire. Their blasts came in cacophony with all the moving parts on the rifle. Mona went back and checked on her submachine gun, but not before Emma grabbed for Mona's attention. "Why aren't you guys occupying the primary defense lines?!"

"There aren't enough of us!" Mona yelled back. "Besides! Have you tried moving under this fire!?"

"I just did! That's no excuse!" Emma looked around at the available forces. "We need that primary line up there!" Emma pointed over the concrete block to the dirt in front, towards the ruptures that made up the newly made foxholes. "If this secondary line falls, it's all over! I need you to rally your troops and move forwards to the position!"

"Are you crazy?! Under this?!" Mona referred to the atmosphere, she could feel the little shocks of bullets whizzing around.

"Go! Take those foxhole positions!"

Mona looked at Emma incredulously, then over the concrete block towards the jaws of the enemy. The blasts were raining out all over the place. Mona then noticed some muzzle flashes pointed towards the enemy in the front where Emma pointed out. Mona wondered what sorts of die-hards would have occupied that position first and foremost.

Then she remembered the girls that yelled guts and all. _Those thick-headed numb nuts...!_ "Graaah! C'mon girls! Take the forward positions!" Mona cried to her fellow girls as she rushed forwards.

Emma watched Mona take off, then looked at the Pravda girls at the sides as they watched as well. "Well?" Emma gestured to them "Go on then!"

The other girls took the hint and followed Mona's lead. As they moved, the Ōarai firing line looked alive, providing covering fire. Emma let loose her Garand. _Klang! Klang!_ The semi-automatic rifle went as it fired each .30-06 rubber round.

* * *

Erwin kept the MG34 firing as Oryou pointed out that the Pravda girls were running up. The MG34 created a continuous stream 7.92 mm rounds out in bursts as Erwin tried to get an aim at the muzzle flashes in the darkness. After she kept a considerable time at one target, Oryou tapped her shoulders for new targets and Erwin responds by shifting the arc of fire.

Soon, a girl slid over to their position, the concrete ground grated under a boot and sand particles. "Hey, how're you girls doing?" Kyline came over with her wooden rifle.

"Nothing much, miss! What's your plan for tomorrow?" Erwin replied as she took aim at another target.

Kyline looked out and held up her rifle and fired towards the enemy. "Oh, not much! Just planning how to beat the Russians!"

"Yeah?!" Caesar said as she came down to reload her MP40. "Well maybe if we hold fire for a few minutes, we can talk to one!" She slid the sliding bolt on her MP40 back open, then placed a magazine of thirty-two 9 mm rounds into the submachine gun. She brought it back up with the sights set to 100 meters and fired in controlled bursts.

Kyline moved on as she inspected the other girls stacked behind the cover. There were many wounded still that has not been evacuated. A few feet away, a group of girls were huddled down with some wounded.

"C'mon... What am I doing? I'm a public morals student, not a police...!" Sodoko chanted to herself as she cuddled her Kar 98k. Moyoko and Nozomi were on the same boat. The girls managed to grab together a bunch of the injured Pravda students, but they haven't budged from their pile and cover.

Kyline was just pondering on moving over there to make them proactive before she saw a calm figure walking upright towards them.

"What are you girls doing down there?" Hawkins asked as she slowly took a knee.

Sodoko broke from her curled position and saw Hawkins, low yet still imposing. "Are you crazy?! Get to cover!"

"This is nothing but rain, Mallard Team," Hawkins said. "Got bigger problems to deal with," She pointed to the downed Pravda students, immobile and groaning. The public morals girls looked down at the gathering they've managed to drag in. "You girls did a good job getting them here, but now I've got another job for you."

"W-What?" Nozomi fearfully asked.

"I'm going to start moving the girls in by twos, but I can't do that without you three providing some cover fire." Hawkins pointed over to a neighboring cover. "Move over to that position and lay down some rifle fire. If you can shift the enemy fire, I can get these girls to safety."

"B-but what about you?" Moyoko asked.

"Don't worry about me," Hawkins said. "I'm a medic. I'm not allowed to get myself killed now."

"K-killed?!"

"Don't worry about it! The faster you three can do it, the sooner we get these girls to safety. You're public morals aren't you?! Let's pick up the morale here, let's move!" Hawkins clapped her hands together, stirring them into action.

Sodoko clapped her hands on her cheeks as she composed herself. She grabbed her rifle firmly with her hand. "Alright team, you heard her! Moyoko, Nozomi, move over there with me, now!"

"Yes Sodoko!" The two yelled as they moved.

"Don't call me that!"

Hawkins moved over to the downed Pravda students. She checked the more serious-looking ones on their injuries. _Okay, not too bad... Ooh, this girl's gonna be bruised for days..._ A few seconds she looked over to the public morals team as they were huddled up behind their cover. Hawkins gave an okay sign with her right hand. That moment, the three girls raised up and fired their rifles. The girls took to cover as they acted on the bolt-action, and fire started to follow them. That was when Hawkins grabbed two of the Pravda girls and started to haul them across the concrete quad into the aids station.

Sodoko saw Hawkins starting her move, she fixed the bolt-action back and raised up for another shot. As she came down, she tapped for her team's attention. "Gather up any other wounded girls around here too so we can help get them out of the danger zone!"

* * *

The fighting seemed protracted, but after the first minutes, the team started to arrive. First like a stream, then as a river when the groups came in until everyone was present in some shape or form.

Saunders student made themselves at home behind the covers. The girls came in, with their blue blazoned stars on their white shield evoking a sense of optimism in the ranks of girls. "Hiya, Puma!" Kay shouted as she made her way in.

"'Least you're on time, blondie!" Emma called back.

"Right, so what's the plan now, half-blondie?" Kay asked. "Naomi! Get yourself into position with your rifle!"

"Right!" Naomi said as she ran off on her own initiative.

Emma looked about with all the new reinforcements available. "Some of you have to move up and defend the primary line! We need to spread out the troops for maximum cover and firepower!"

"Right!" Kay looked back at some of the available girls she could send out. "Hey Darjeeling! Job opportunity in the front!"

Darjeeling came up with a STEN machine gun in hand. Kay explained to her the objective. "Understood," Darjeeling said with a smile and went back.

"What's next Ms. Darjeeling?" Orange Pekoe said, also gripping onto a STEN as she crouched under cover. The other St. Gloriana girls, wielding stuff like the Lee-Enfield and BREN guns, were taking pot shots at the enemy in the distance. The whole place was getting crowded with the different school groups present that it was practically begging for some girls to take to the next position.

"We move forwards and be the wall against the enemy," Darjeeling told her. "Do you know this saying?"

"Now's not really the time!" Pekoe and Assam said in unison.

"A chain is as strong as its weakest link," Darjeeling continued regardless. "Now, let's go! Weapons up, ladies!" Darjeeling held her STEN firmly as she dashed off gallantly into battle, with the girls following her, carrying an assortment of English weaponry like the famous Lee-Enfield rifle and the BREN light machine guns.

"Oh I hope they'll be alright," Kay muttered.

"They will!" Emma said confidently with a smirk. "They've got the British spirit with them!"

"So...uh," Katyusha popped up behind Kay and the two looked at the short girl, crouching under the block with them. "What do I do?!"

As much as she wasn't one, Emma couldn't help but think Katyusha as a kid. It almost seems heartless to throw her out there. "Keep everyone's spirits up!" Emma replied.

"Ha? What's that suppose to mean?!"

"It means be dependable," Kay simply said.

"I can be dependable!" Katyusha loudly proclaimed.

"Then go!"

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

"Mountain!" A voice cried out in the darkness.

"Shilka!" Albert responded as he and his six cadets halted. Two silhouettes emerged in the darkness with their distinctive SVT rifle profiles, approaching the small squad.

"Who're you?" The older one of the two figures spoke.

"Corporal Albert, sir" Albert said for the team. "We were blown off course on our way in.

Nikolai, standing right by Vasiliy, watched as the pathfinders looked at the squad. They didn't question on why Albert was soaked head to toe. One of the pathfinders walked by doing a headcount, making sure all was accounted.

"And what's your plan now, corporal?" The one in front said.

"We were planning to join up our platoon attacking Ōarai right now, sir!" Albert replied.

"Not anymore you aren't," Antov said. "You're with us as support. I'm Antov, head of the pathfinders. We'll form a third unit and hit them where they won't expect."

Albert registered the reassignment, "Yes sir!"

"Alright, we'l-"

A loud crash was heard in the darkness and everyone turned towards it. Coming from it was a rattling, dragging noise as something plowed through the dense dirt and breaking down various foliage. The noise could be heard diminishing as the vehicle came to a halt.

"Well, scratch that. Looks like we'll have an extra hand in this." Albert said as a roar sounded in the darkness.

* * *

 **Tank Garage, Ōarai Carrier**

Mona dived into one of the foxholes in front at the left sector, along with another Pravda student, Katya.

"This place isn't big enough for the two of us!" Mona cried to them as she got up from her fall.

"Well, maybe we should've dug more before today!" Katya replied. Mona didn't say anything back as she reloaded her PPSh again with a drum and moved to her position. The foxhole was a simple hole, at least to Mona's eye, that was dug in deep enough for the two. The structure was cut into a Y-shape for each girl to take up position on the split ends to fire on their sides without getting into each other's ways. Small dirt mounds provided from the digging packed up in front and around their little ends provide decent cover against the physical force of the rounds as they dig in and dissipate energy into the earth.

Mona made herself comfortable on her left end as she peeked over in a crouched position over the foxhole brim towards front. The Russians were getting closer, she could hear their loud shouts as they closed in. She rose from her cover and fired a spray into the general direction of the voices, but they still kept coming. Katya on the right end raised a rifle and pointed at one, fired, then managed her rifle for the next round. Despite their fire, they came at them relentlessly like cyborgs.

As they fired back, it seemed like each muzzle flash from the enemy was coming closer, and closer.

* * *

Naomi found herself elevated on a small leverage on the second floor windows inside the second tank garage. The interior was dark, giving her ample background concealment as she peeked out a shot out window with her rifle. She aimed through her scope at the distant targets, tracing her vision from close to far by watching the St. Gloriana girls make it to their foxholes. A further up she could see the enemy fire come in from the darkness. With only the lighting as a reference point, she mentally gauged the distance.

 _250 yards..._ Naomi estimated as she adjusted the knobs on her 4x zoom scope for the appropriate elevation. The antiquated scope had none of the mil-dots that she was familiar with in today's marksman rifle, or even anything like in a tank's optic with the ranging marks. It was a simple cross reticule and a simple meeting point in the center for the mark.

But a few clicks on the knob, and she relaxed her rifle. She laid it atop of a concrete block for a contact point and she steadied the rifle with her right hand on the stock grip and her left grasping the stock to provide control. Naomi controlled her breathing and stopped chewing her gum for a second as the reticle hovered over a flash. She waited for the flash to appear again before she fired.

She estimated the time of travel, only a quarter of a second, was it? She lingered on this as she raised her head to clear room for the bolt movement as she managed the bolt-action. When she put her cheek back down onto the stock and her eye through the scope, the flash was no more.

Onto the next.

* * *

"Georgiy is down!" Someone cried over at the direction of 2nd platoon.

Viktor grumbled "Son of a... Put pressure on the forward group! Get in close enough the rear guard can't fire on them!"

"Aye sir!" Some of the cadets raced off again as the squad leaders pushed the riflemen on.

Viktor looked back at a gathering point in the foliage. Four medics between the two cadet platoons were in charge there. Casualties on their side was low to begin as they only encountered pistol-grade ammunition at a long-distance. But the presence of machine guns and rifles are starting to take its toll. Ten casualties were present on the ground, clutching their arms, legs, and ribs. With only a total of 76 men in the landed force, these casualties are an impact to their overall fighting strength.

Viktor hoped some of them would walk off their wounds and rejoin them in the front, but he knew their pain. Those rifle dummy round deliver quite a punch for their purpose. They transfer a force that feels greater than a full-on punch to the guts. However, the force is given on the small surface area of a spitz-pointed round that all the energy transfer to one spot. This often lead to severe bruising, trauma damage, and in the most severe cases even broken bones at the impact point.

Pistol rounds were the easier of the two in long-distance fighting. Their designs do not retain high-amount of energy in range. So even if a pistol round of the 9 mm hit them from more than 100 meters out, their force is splashed on like a heavy punch, but one could walk away from it, especially so if it lands on a thick layer of clothing. Individually and in distances, the round was not so bad, but up close and fired at full automatic...

"Antalov, where are you?" Viktor muttered on as he watched a medic apply an ointment on a black spot a cadet's arm, the cadet yelped as his arm was moved. Viktor checked his watch, 9:34 PM. He then checked on his rear. _Where the hell are those gliders?!_

* * *

Mona focused in front at the men shooting at her, then a flash appeared in front of her on the ground. Mona ducked into cover on instinct. She listened curiously to a loud fizzing sound in the background and raised up to see a cloud of smoke beginning to form from where the flash took place. _Smoke bombs?_ Mona thought, then saw the muzzle flashes disappear between the new concealment.

The smoke filled the air, the wind spread it. Mona found herself without a target or a lead.

"I don't see anything, what about you Mona?!" Katya screamed. She seemed to poke around in the smoke with her rifle.

"No, nothing..." Mona replied. The foxholes on her sides were still firing at _something_ , so she kept her muzzle up and ready, her fingers twitching on the trigger guard. The smoke emission stopped, but the cloud stayed. Mona couldn't see more than 30 meters in front. The smoke worked both ways, though she can't see them, the enemy fire has also stopped coming to her as well.

"Do you see them?!" Katya asked again.

"No…" Mona commented softly.

"God damn it, are they even coming from here…?"

A few tense seconds passed. A whiz of rounds flew over her, the rounds impacted on the dirt mounds around Mona and the blistering bits tossed about forced her down for a moment. _That came from the left!_ Mona thought instantly as she turned her PPSh towards that direction.

That's when two figure appeared out of the darkness just like that on their left. Katya responded, but her rifle was too unwieldy for such an encounter. Mona brought up her PPSh up to them and pulled a trigger. A click. The chromed bolt assembly slid forward on the receiver, but a round did not chamber. Mona brought down the PPSh for a look and she missed the actions of her opposers.

The two men, clad in a brown uniform with khaki gear on them, ran up to the edge of the girl's fox holes. They brandished their weapons on their hip to the two girls, the metallic PPS-43, a cruder counterpart of the PPSh-41. Except in this instance, their weapons did not falter when they pulled the trigger.

* * *

Assam heard the rattling of close by enemy fire, in the same repetition as those across the field much closer to home. She looked left and saw the two Russians on top of the fox hole, with their weapons pointed down and blasting away at the occupants. Assam brought up her Enfield, sighted the targets and fired a shot. The rearward Russian crumpled. As his fellow compatriot realized that he was down, Assam already cycled the bolt on her Enfield in one stroke and fired again. The next .303 dummy slammed onto the man's back and he fell, rolling back into the foxhole.

Darjeeling took notice of Assam's attention and looked over at her targets. The foxhole they were above has fallen silent. "We have to fill the hole!" Darjeeling said, "C'mon! Let's go girls! Rosehip, you stay here!"

She jumped out of the foxhole, much to the surprise to Pekoe and Assam.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Rosehip protested, manning the large BREN light machine gun pointing forwards. "How come I got to stay back here?!"

Assam looked at Rosehip, "Because you're dependable."

Rosehip scoffed as Assam and Pekoe followed Darjeeling out into No Man's Land.

"You think Ms. Darjeeling is really getting into this?" Pekoe asked Assam.

"I'm not so sure what goes in her mind sometimes…"

The girls ran a fair distance before they reached the foxhole. They dove into the hole for cover and found the two Pravda girls in there. Pekoe kept an eye out over the foxhole with her STEN submachine gun for cover as Darjeeling and Assam checked on the girls.

They were not in good shape, both clutching onto their many wound marks on their body. The impacts of each 7.62 mm Tokarev rounds could be seen on their clothes and skin, with the depressions still present on their marks. The trio knew this was a serious concern. "Medic!" Assam cried out into the wilderness.

Rounds started to come from their left. Pekoe kept her eye at the direction and fired her STEN sparingly. The flashes came down low, and Pekoe looked closely. The fire came from a neighboring foxhole that made up part of their defense lines. Pekoe thought it was a case of friendly fire, but as the figure ducked back into cover, Pekoe could make out the bowl-shaped helmet top on the Russians.

"Ms. Darjeeling!" Pekoe shouted back down. "We got enemies on our left flank!"

Darjeeling was about to answer as they saw someone scuttered over the brim from the lower end of the Y-shape into the foxhole. The Glorianas quickly pointed their weapons at them as they confirmed their identity.

"H-hi!" A petite girl with her blonde hair in pigtails said nervously, looking up at the arrangement of muzzles. It was Aki from Continuation. She was followed by a redhead with the same hairstyle, with Mikko rolling into the foxhole. Another assortment of girls fell flat prone above the foxhole, all wearing the same uniform as Continuation.

"Supportive fire!" Janne cried as her crew laid a heavy spray of fire with their Suomi M31 submachine guns, the 9 mm laying a more intimidating and rapid blasts over the foxhole.

"These two girls here, they need help!" Assam pointed out to the two Pravda girls. Aki crawled over and checked them as Pekoe continued firing back at the neighboring foxhole as she and the Russian duked it out, taking cover behind their hole as they popped in and out for a burst of fire.

Pekoe looked down at the scene below as Mikko was unfolding a stretcher and placing it over behind the foxhole. Pekoe looked down and saw the downed Russian that Assam shot. He wasn't moving, so Pekoe got down and checked. His pulse was running strong still so he was stable at least, then Pekoe got an eye on his equipments on him, all the ammunition strapped on his front body, as well as some cylindrical shaped materials. Upon closer look, Pekoe read the labels as smoke grenades.

Darjeeling eyes Pekoe's find and nodded as Pekoe looked towards her. She reached down and unlatched a smoke grenade from the Russian's gear, then edged back to her area. She fired a burst from her STEN over the top, keeping the other side suppressed and down. A few bursts and she got back down and reloaded the STEN side-mounted magazine. Pekoe then looked at the grenade, it was a common design with the pin atop and the release hatch in her palm. She pulled the pin and kept the latch on as she reached up once more for an aimed burst at the foxhole.

Pekoe then released the latch and kept it for a second before throwing it. The white cylinder flung in the air between all the bullets as it landed right into the occupied foxhole. A bright flash emitted, then men shouting from within as the smoke rose, followed with coughing as three men climbed out of the congested air. Darjeeling and Pekoe together took basic aim as their submachine guns rattled the three, with one only able to point his weapon towards the girl before being knocked down by rapid rounds, five puff of dust pounced off his clothes as the rounds impacted.

Pekoe held up her submachine gun, its barrel slightly smoking as she inspected Darjeeling's and her's work.

"Okay!" The brash voice of Mikko shouted. "We're carrying this girl out! Aki, put her on the stretcher on my mark!" Mikko and Aki got into position to lift the Mona out.

"We'll cover you!" Darjeeling said as she checked her STEN ammunition. Aki and Mikko hoisted the girl up and outside the foxhole. "Alright… go!" And she and Assam and Pekoe kept a base of fire towards the other side as Aki and Mikko climbed out and grabbed the girl by her shoulders and feet respectively and dashed back.

* * *

"Here comes the stretchers! Covering fire!" Kyline shouted as she started firing her Garand down range. Hippo team also kept the fire up as they watched the girls from Continuation run all the way back under all the fire, as if even the enemy were watching their fire as well.

Kyline noted a presence of smoke rise from her right. She looked and saw Hippo team with their MG34 starting to become a hot rod.

"Stop! Stop firing!" She warned the girls. Erwin fired for a few moments before taking attention to Kyline.

"What? What?"

"The barrel! You have to cha-" Kyline pointed out and then a blistering _THUD_ blasted off her right shoulder and she was thrown back, hitting the ground hard. She tried to get back up, but a heavy pain overwhelmed her right side. Kyline yelped, gripping onto the area for pressure on the pain as though it was bleeding.

"Lee!" Saemonza dropped her Karabiner and attended to the down instructor. Erwin and Oryou looked down at Kyline as Saemonza checked the wound, but got her message.

"Which button was it?" Erwin felt around the MG34 in the darkness as Oryou put on an asbestos glove. Erwin found the lever in the front of the receiver, pressed it down and then fumbly rolled the receiver on the right side as the barrel shroud stood in place, exposing the barrel inside. Steam, or smoke, emitted from the barrel's surface through the shroud rear, the cooling holes on the shroud, and the muzzle end. Erwin lowered the gun carefully and the barrel slid out right into Oryou's gloved hand. She then put it aside as her left hand reached for a spare barrel and chucked it in. Erwin closed the receiver shut and she was back firing nine seconds later. The green tracers came out like no worries as she fired away.

"Lee? You're okay. Not bleeding anywhere." Saemonza commented over the instructor, who calmed down from the sensation.

"Oh, I'm more worried about what happened under the skin…" Kyline weakly said as she recovered, getting up. Her arm felt limp and unresponsive due to an overriding pain, but she felt she could make an effort around her elbows.

"If you can't use it, can I take your Garand?" Saemonza asked innocently and eagerly. Kyline looked at her with a funny look as she evaluated her physical well being.

"Yeah, whatever. You know how to use it?"

Saemonza took up Lee's Garand and held the bolt back a bit, checking the ammo, then she forced the bolt closed again. Kyline, somewhat satisfied, held up a few 8-round clips for the Garand in her left palm for Saemonza. Saemonza confidently took the clips and returned to Hippo's side, continuing to support their fire.

A large figure soon approached on Kyline's left. "You twink, how'd you manage to get shot?" Hawkins said as she picked her up in a fireman's carry.

"Don't speak so soon, you'll get one to the eye," Kyline quickly joked as she was rushed to the aids station.

The two instructors ran by as the girls kept on the fire. Emma kept her sight picture clear with her Garand as she fired some shots. The shots went _POW POW_ as .30-06 dummy round cracked out methodically. After a few rounds, a _CLINK_ then a _PING_ sounded as the empty metal clip of the Garand ejected out automatically and made a trademark noise as it fell onto the concrete.

Emma ducked down as she pulled a clip out for a reload. She looked up at her nearby companions. Kay and Alisa nearby fired their Thompson at any moving targets she could see. The .45 ACP rounds made a very noticeable tracer arc as they traveled at sub-sonic rates. Kay kept her Thompson in automatic for steady bursts while Alisa had her Thompson set on semi-auto as her trench-sweeper fired its pistol ammunition in a extremely conserved mode.

Though their accuracy would be unmeasured from here, the other Saunder girl has made her mark. A loud shot echoed again as the window of the garage lit up briefly from the muzzle flash. Naomi was on a different level from them all, literally, as her skills as a marksman delivered. As the time passed, each machine gun location on the Russian's end were disappearing one by one as they were targeted specifically by the Firefly gunner with a Springfield rifle.

Emma got back up with her rifle steadied. The Ōarai's fire concentration in the primary lines focused on the left side as the Russians were trying to make a flank maneuver, so Emma brought her rifle there and took aim.

* * *

 **Ōarai Girls High School, Ōarai Carrier**

Miho ran up to the school entrance.

"S-slow down, Miporin!" Saori breathlessly cried out as Hana and her were left to the dust behind Miho.

Miho couldn't as she felt something spur inside her. The conflict happening now was something she couldn't ignore. There were girls out there helpless, it would be almost criminal to leave them to their own, even if people like Emma was present to manage it.

She turned on the side as she made her way through the property. From here, Miho could hear the crack of the rounds flying in the air. The lights were all out in the school except in the tank area and the darkness consumed her. Her navigation was only based on memory of the area, tracking her distance by the foot step. So as she rumbled around outside the school, she felt herself scrape aside the branches of hedges along the path as she neared the garage location.

Miho turned a corner and _KLUNK_ , she crashed into an unfamiliar object. "Gah!" Two voices cried on impact, Miho caught on quick and glanced in the darkness. The being in the darkness, only outlined by the dim light here, moved and Miho could see two reflective white pools in the air.

Eyes. The eyes floated above Miho as the man regained composure. He was a good few inches over Miho. Miho could make out the outline of his gear and equipment on him, he was surely part of the opposing force.

He reacted first, swinging his arm up. Miho caught the light reflection off the metal on his weapon. Miho responded as the muzzle swept up, her right arm moved to flick the weapon away from her to the right. She didn't know when, but her right hand had become a fist and came as a hook, swinging around and plowing into the man's right cheek.

The man started to fall when another voice shouted behind him. "Oh my gosh!" Saori yelled from behind as the two caught up to the scene. With her friends behind her and an angry Russian in front, Miho can't just hide away.

The other man, sharp with his tone, screamed as Miho reached down onto her victim as he was stunned from the blow and grabbed hold of his submachine gun. Miho felt around with her right hand for the trigger and grip as she forced the weapon's barrel end towards the voice, a sling seen on the weapon that stuck it onto its proper owner.. She pulled the trigger and the weapon, cold to the touch, blasted in the darkness. The muzzle flashes brought light and Miho traced the direction onto the other man, the blinking muzzle blast continuing until she saw the man on the ground.

Her victim has regain composure and tried to retake his weapon. Miho quickly elbowed him with her left arm in the face, the sling wobbled about in the struggle and Miho's right hand moved to the connectors. Unhooking the sling from the submachine gun, she freed it from the stunned man and pointed it at him. She steadied her aim, watching his actions. The man looked at Miho in the darkness. Instead of giving up, he sat up and quickly reached for something on his belt, and Miho quickly pulled the trigger.

 _RA-TA-TA-TA_

"Eeek!"

The submachine gun blasted again and the man fell back down. Miho kept an eye on for a second to make sure he was incapacitated, then looked at the other one ahead and found him still on the floor. Miho then kept back to the task, the new submachine gun in her hands. "Let's go!"

She continued to run towards the tank garage.

"W-wait! Miho!"

Her sprint, given from the rush she felt inside her, brought her to the common path between the school and the Sensha-dou area. A large white tent has been erected there. A hasty one, but one that has the necessary materials to function. Miho slowed a bit to inspect the zone from outside.

"Mi-po-rin…." Saori finally caught up along with Hana. The two caught their breath, but Saori, the poor girl, looked ready to collapse.

"Is that a red cross tent?" Hana asked.

"We have to get across…" Miho said as she started a slower jog across.

"Wait…" Saori muttered with her thin breath as Miho moved towards the tent.

Inside was heartbreaking. Rows of makeshift beds on elevated positions or on the ground were present, with a good amount of them filled with a patient. What was perhaps more shocking was the presence of officials in the same referee uniforms Miho recognized from the Sensha-dou nationals. Their presence, as well as the medical professions, indicated that this event was not an uncoordinated attack done by one side. The assault on Ōarai Girls High School and the Sensha-dou students was a scheduled, coordinated event with the approval of the League for its go-ahead.

As Miho walked past the scene, a familiar figure came in carrying a wounded girl on her shoulders, towards a bed. Miho recognized the girl as Hawkins, carrying Kyline, who looked pained and weak. "Hawkins! I-"

Someone puts a large metal machine in front of Miho. Miho looked at it for a moment, a MP40 submachine gun. Compared to the submachine gun she took from the Russian, it was a finer piece of craftsmanship. Instructor Ami, giving the MP40 to Miho, looked at her with the same smile she usually carries. "You're late, Miho."

Miho looked at Ami. Her usual mannerism just confirms that she and the other officials had a head-up in the Russian's approach. How else would she have set up this whole operation? Miho wanted to protest to this endangerment to her team, but something in her told her to shut up and go with it. Still, an uneasy feeling gnawed on her as she put down her acquired submachine gun for the MP40. "What's going on here, Ami?"

"Your Russian opponents in a few days have launched an airborne assault against you."

"We can see that!" Saori shouted.

Ami went down and brought up two more submachine guns, and gave it to the two girls.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, I can't do this!" Saori pushed the MP40 back to Ami. "Firing this at dirt is one thing, I can't shoot people like that!"

"I suppose you can help out here then," Ami surmised. "Hey, Hawkins, want to take Saori here with you?"

"Yeah, sure!" Hawkins spoke above the commotion in the tent.

As Ami conversed with Hana and Saori. Miho looked at all the team members already down. Each girl present had some form of damage, mostly in body bandages, but some have arm slings on them. Medical professionals in uniforms were about, quickly administering first aid to each girl before moving on. A majority of the patients were Pravda students, though there were a considerable number of Saunders as well.

 _Has it been this bad?_ Miho thought as she watched some of the girls squirm on their beds. She could hear the sound of a van driving up closer to the tent. She peered outside the tent and saw the white paint and symbols of that as an ambulance approaching without its siren.

Miho looked at the MP40 in her hand. All its difference was from a real gun was the fact the internal parts has a tolerance against pressure and a different mechanism prevent firing of authentic 9 mm rounds. That was all there was from this weapon of sport into a weapon of war.

"Miporin," Saori grabbed Miho by the shoulder, which got her attention.

"Y-yeah?"

"You alright?"

Miho felt a blood rush up to her head, and suddenly felt hot. She put her hand onto her forehead and found she was sweating. "I-I'm fine, I… I'm just going through a moment."

Saori looked at her funnily. Ami came up, "Miho, the team is waiting for you. Join them out there, they'll need your support."

"I'm coming with you too!" Hana said, gripping a rifle in her hand.

Miho focused her senses outside the tent. The blasts of gunfire and thuds of the bullets landing haphazardly. A distant cry came in over the noise. Miho gripped onto the MP40 harder, then dropped the bolt from its safe open position into a ready state. "Okay, wish us luck!'

"Be careful Miporin!" Saori said. "I don't want to see you back here until you kick their butts!"

Miho gave a small confident smile to mask her own worries before she runs out of the tent towards the gunfire, Hana followed right behind.

The whole place was riddled with automatic fire. Tracer bullets flew around, and Miho felt like a needle weaving through the hole in fabric, avoiding the bullets tearing through the air. Miho ran in low and fast, her lively heart pumped her red blood through her circulatory system. "Hana! Go help those girls over there!"

"Okay, Miho!" Hana shouted as she parted from Miho.

The bullets continued to whistle past Miho's ears as the bullets riddled the area as she came up to a concrete block.

Two Saunder girls were there, noting the girl who just arrived, they turned towards Miho were surprised. "Le-legen-, I mean, Ms. Nishizumi!"

Miho looked at the girl, and recognized her as the Saunder girls she talked to the other day. "What's going on around here?"

"I don't know!"

 _Figures,_ Miho thought. It was hard to tell the big picture from this place. Miho peeked over the block. Though the Russians were advancing, they were held off at bay by the firepower from the primary and secondary lines. She would have to thank Emma for setting up the defense strategy in a later time.

Miho moved over the blocks, passing by the next section towards the group huddled there. She looked one of the girl, one with a mixed hair color, and so Miho got her attention. "Emma, what's going on?!"

"Miho Nizhizumi!" Emma cried out as she broke into a smile. "Glad for you to join us this fine night. You ready to shoot some reds?"

"What's going on here?"

"We managed to stabilize the field," Emma said. "We got machine guns on our left and right, as well in the primary sector to provide our base of fire. Some Russians managed to get on our left flank."

"Oh, so that's what that was?" Miho realized.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked curiously.

"Not important now," Miho thought. _Handled part of the problem..._. "Anything else happening here?"

"Currently, we got fire superiority over them!" Emma said gleefully. "One bad thing about these kinds of airborne assaults is that they're limited on the number of force to bring. Two planes pass by, that means they only got two platoon's worth of soldiers."

"These kinds... Do these things happen often?" Miho asked.

"Oh yeah," Emma confirmed. "All the industrialized team love to do this. How other way to affirm your military might than with a joint operation between tankery and airborne in a tournament?!"

Miho glanced over the cover as Kay shot some more. "Okay…" Miho said. "I'm going to check on the front group."

Miho was about to run up before Emma grabbed her by the arm. "Whoa! Where are you going?"

"I need to check on the team up there!"

"Look, Nishizumi," Emma brought her back down under the concrete. "I know you care about your team, a'ight? But we also care about you. The worst thing that can happen from this battle now is if they cripple you days before our match!"

"But I-"

"No buts, Miho!" Emma shut her up. "You're the commander! You stay here! We'll send a runner up instead!"

Miho still felt a heavy urge to go. She wanted to go up front and get a lick in the whole event. She wanted to make sure the girls up front facing the enemy were alright, that they knew she was here. A crack beamed up, feeling only inches from her forehead, and so she got back down.

"Okay, then Emma…" Miho looked at Emma. Despite her skills in Sensha-dou and Tankery, Emma was clearly more experienced in this type of battles than Miho. "What now?"

"Well, we need to beat back the Russians for one thing and..." Emma's voice trailed off as she looked at the distance. Miho glanced towards the direction as well. "What the hell is that...?"

* * *

Assam fired her Enfield, the authority it emits struck its fifth man that night. Darjeeling and Pekoe also kept busy with their STEN, burning through three magazines within their short time in their new foxhole. The three girls managed to make it work against the Russians in their front and left, keeping a base of fire with each respective weapons as Assam kept at it for precision fire. She quickly struck the bolt back for it to lock behind the magazine feed spring. _I'm out..._ Assam thought, losing count of the ten-round magazine. She ducked down and reached into her shirt pocket for the five-round stripper clips.

"Well, this is quite thrilling…" Darjeeling said with a smile as she stacked in another magazine.

"Yes, Ms. Darjeeling…" Pekoe also said, watching their left flank. Assam examined in the center of the foxhole shape as she scanned with her rifle. All the other Pravda and St. Gloriana girls in the other foxholes are currently holding. In their established positions with a firm base of fire, the Russian advance has stalled to avoid running into the machine gun fire.

"Now what?" Assam asked, as she finished reloading her rifle. She relaxed her eyes, after straining them so long keeping on the iron sights.

"Say, how long have we been fighting now?" Pekoe asked.

"The swiftest hours, as they flew…" Darjeeling said.

"Shakespeare huh? You make this easy, Ms. Darjeeling."

Darjeeling made a light chuckle when she heard something in the distant. Not the usual gun fire, it was something mechanical. The ground was lightly shaking, the disturbance was getting heavier and soon they can feel the vibration under the soles of their boots.

"What's this…?" Pekoe noted the abnormality.

The girls took a moment to consider before Assam spoke, "Sounds like a tank!"

"Whaaat?" Pekoe expressed her doubt. "How would they get an enemy tank onto the carrier?"

"Then what else is it?" Assam asked. Pekoe couldn't answer, even Darjeeling felt the options dry up. The girls slowly came into a doubtful realization, then peaked up over the foxhole together.

The clacking of the tracks grew, as well as a roaring engine. Beyond all possible means, the Russians have managed to bring a tank onboard with their assault.

"What do we do, Ms. Darjeeling?!" Pekoe said as calmly as rationally possible in the given position to Darjeeling.

"'She who defends everything, defends nothing,'" Darjeeling said, examining the situation

"And what do you mean by that?" Pekoe asked.

Darjeeling's eyes glint, "We'll hold our ground here."

* * *

Nikolai rode on the T-60 tank into battle. With the engine exhaust coming straight out the right side, there was plenty of room on the rear deck for desant troops. Tank commander Breshka, an airborne trooper himself, had his body up with the huge turret hatch up forwards. As a one-man turret, however, his current position makes it impossible for him to operate the guns. Still, the driver drove the menacing tank into battle, with a second tank to their side about 50 meters away.

In the distance, Nikolai could see the girls that they've been trading shots stunned. For a tank to come out negating all their rifle fires, a new feeling of power filled in the air cadet's strike force. A combined arms assault of paratroopers and a tank was a very effective surprise strike. The tanks formed the spearhead of the assault, with the rest of the cadets in the platoons gathering around the tanks as their vector of attack.

A stream of machine gun bullets soon came from their left from one of the trenches. The bullet sparked off the front of the hull and turret, and so the Breshka shouted, waving his arms to warn everyone off, and Nikolai did with the five cadets on the T-60 engine deck. Breshka began to button up into his T-60 as the cadets spread out.

"Spread out!" Viktor ordered nearby.

"Spread out!" Albert relayed the order, hearing Viktor. The cadets spread out to provide cover and recon for the tank. The tank rolled forwards under its diesel power towards the entrenched girls up front. Though Nikolai stood out by the side of the T-60, the fire focused more on the tank as the tracers plinked off the front armor. What would be swiss cheese against tanks in normal Tankery battles were proof against regular rifle rounds.

As they approached the trenches, now roughly 100 meters away, the coaxial on the moving T-60 opened fire. The DT machine gun blasted off the 7.62 rimmed rifle rounds out. The rounds raked the trenches and the girls ducked down in cover as red tracer scattered the place. As the girls got down, the next order followed, "Forwards!"

The infantry split from the tanks. In controlled firing, the cadets held their weapons on their hips and fired towards the trenches. The walking fire supplemented the suppression fire on the enemy trenches as the riflemen cadets moved up. The two T-60's focus of fire shifted from the trenches to the machine gunners in the distance, keeping their heads down as the rounds flew around them. Nikolai leveled his M44 carbine as he moved up.

* * *

Rosehip's BREN gun was worthless against the tanks. On first glance, she responded with leveling a magazine of the .303 rifle rounds at the lumbering machines. The tracers showed the bullets simply bouncing off in various angles with little effect against the tank and the infantry. The BREN then clacked empty and Rosehip got down to reload, in time too as the machine gun round from the opposing side started to rain onto her.

"Hate being dependable!" She shouted, loading another banana magazine onto the top feeder and racked the bolt for round. She looked up at the enemy tanks and saw them halt a distance away. Their machine gun tracers now up above her, but the infantry moving up in a steady pace with their weapons raking the foxholes. Rosehip looked over to Ms. Darjeeling's location as they kept their heads down in all this.

Rosehip didn't really decide as much as she acted on that. She took her BREN and ran up and over her foxhole.

"What are you doing, Rosehip?!" Her tank mate, Vanilla, cried out for her as she left. Running to the foxhole, Rosehip leveled the BREN on her hip and fired towards the opposing force. The BREN's ergonomics allowed her to hold and fire as she ran across the field towards the next fox hole, which she fell in as soon as the last round from her BREN ran out.

"Enjoying your time there, Rambo?" Darjeeling said back as Rosehip realized where she landed in.

"What do we do now?!" Rosehip asked. "We can't do a thing against those tanks!"

"We have to hold our position," Darjeeling said. "Aim for the infantry, Pekoe. Assam, try aiming at the optic ports on that tank. Rosehip, fight!"

"Yes, Ms. Darjeeling!"

* * *

"Wow…" Miho looked at the two incoming T-60 tanks with awe.

Emma, not so much, "God damn it, Ivan. You _really_ had to bring everything?" She gritted, looking as the infantry moved forwards towards the foxholes.

"We have to do something!" Miho shouted, more of a suggestion to Emma.

"Not happening, Miho," Emma said, her eyes unwavering. "Those tanks just made the space between here and there a No-Man's Land. Besides, I don't think these girls have the mental fortitude for _that_ kind of attack..."

Miho was confused at Emma's last remark, then looked over at the other girls. They were no longer firing, but stared in stunned silence at the tanks. Questions seemed to sprout in their heads. How did it get here, why are they here, was this all a bad dream? They all seemed shocked at the scene that was unfolding.

Emma grumbled. "Those forward positions aren't going to last more than a few minutes... Kay! Alisa! With me!"

"Hah?" Kay responded to her name, "Where?!"

Emma didn't answer as she ran off towards the right somewhere, leaving Miho alone while Kay and Alisa figured out what transpired. "Grr, c'mon Alisa, let's go!" Kay got up with her Thompson, Alisa followed closely in a stumbled sprint.

Miho looked over and saw the Russian cadets running into the foxholes under the tank machine gun fire. Miho wondered how many girls down there were getting hurt from this. How vicious the Russians must be to get up so close for the fighting, with the fighting coming up close and personal for all of them.

The Russians menaced the foxholes in the primary defense lines, then the tanks started to move forwards.

* * *

"Get down!" Assam cried out and the Gloriana girls got down in their foxhole as the tank rolled their way. The metal tracks crunched the dirt and formation of the foxhole as it drove over the holes. The ground rumbled, the particles shook and fell all over the girls as the 10 ton machine moved over them. Darjeeling looked up at the tank over her. She hadn't seen the belly of a threatening vehicle ever since the T28 Super Heavy. It was very surreal until the tank finished its travel across the trench.

Infantry soon made an appearance over the foxhole and Rosehip immediately responded by raising the conical muzzle of her BREN and fired a quick burst at the men up top. The surprised Russians dove back in surprise at the amount of firepower presented to them.

"Go!" Rosehip shouted, then fired another burst up.

Darjeeling seized the opportunity, "Assam, Pekoe, out the other way!" Darjeeling climbed out of their now exposed fox hole. Assam and Pekoe got out as Rosehip provided cover fire with her weapon. The Russians were all over the place as they made their advance, Pekoe and Darjeeling emerged in the middle of the squads. In the confusion, the two fired off suppressing shots at the crowd, their shots focused on those who acknowledged their presence. The 9 mm rounds brought them down, but some were getting back up from the shock of the pistol rounds. As Darjeeling, Orange Pekoe, and Assam fought their way out of the area, Rosehip climbed out under their fire blanket.

The girls ran to the farthest foxhole from the chaos. "Aaaggh!" Rosehip shouted as she fell to the ground, she clutched her leg.

"Rosehip...!," Darjeeling saw her teammate fall, and she ran back.

"Ms. Darjeeling!" Pekoe yelled as she then brought up the STEN against some Russians taking notice of them. The bullets whistle through the air between the few as Darjeeling hustled Rosehip on her shoulder towards the nearby foxhole, occupied by downed Pravda students from the onslaught of Russians.

"I'm okay, Ms. Darjeeling," Rosehip got out as she gripped onto her right calf. "A leg's nothing!"

"Yes, but let me take a look at it…" Darjeeling said.

"Ms. Darjeeling! We've got trouble!" Assam said as she got closer, "Those tanks are going to crack right through the defense!" She then raised her rifle towards an enemy and cracked, the man took cover as she cycled the bolt.

"We're on our own now, Assam…" Darjeeling said. "It's up to them to do something about the tanks now…"

* * *

"Oh my god! The tanks are coming!" The girls were panicking. Their screams only made more chaos as the tanks approached towards the secondary lines, closing in the distance towards 50 meters, the infantry at its back taking cover behind the hulk of metals as the tanks made its advance. Out in between the primary and secondary lines, the tanks slowly made their way forward in a menacing manner.

The girls who saw their rifle rounds simply bounce off the intimidating tanks as their coaxial fire red tracer into the crowd lost their nerves. Some girls tried to run for it, leaving their cover only to have a round plant on their back as they tried to break for it.

"Stay down!" Miho yelled, inspiring the girls to heed her. "Fire at the infantry around the tanks!" She yelled this several times, hammering the message into her fellow teammates on priority targets. Miho extended the stock on her MP40, lined up the sights, and fired with her team. Her own tracer fire helped direct the enemy away from the center mass of the tanks to its weaker support units. There was nothing she could do about the tanks at the moment, but the infantry were still cannon-fodder to the rifle. The fire shifted slowly towards the cadets that exposed themselves behind the tanks. The tanks, however, continued like a stone wall against the fire.

 _What to do, what to do..._ Miho's mind raced as the tanks approached with its coaxial continually firing. It took a stop in the middle of the zone as its turret slewed around, firing away. The gun mantlet noticeably lowered. Then a pounding _BZH-TA-TA-TA_ emitted from the main gun barrel. A large blast emitted from the cannon as the tank fired. The rounds cracked the concrete cover the girls on Miho's left. Unlike the rifle rounds, the 20 mm auto cannon broke the cover. Concrete particles flew into the air, the sound of the impact screeched in the air with each _BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!_

The cover was no good now. "Fall back into the garage!" Miho yelled out on top of her lungs as she saw the turrets of the two tanks rotate as they locate targets to destroy.

The crowd of girls didn't hesitate to run back. "Run!" "Fall back!" "Move, move, move!" "Take cover!" "Displace!" were shouted haphazardly with the withdrawal. TheŌarai girls rapidly moved, preferring to be exposed to return rifle fire opposed to being powdered to dust by the cannons. Miho kept at her position, yelling at her team to fall back. Everyone moved, the rifle fire above didn't matter anymore. The tanks are the issue now. Miho kept at it, yelling away as the crowd of girls passed her.

The T-60 to the right has aligned its gun straight towards Miho's position. Miho's eye could see the eye of the cannon barrel pointing right at her.

 _BOOM!_

Miho flinched as a cannon blasted, but the explosion erupted on the enemy tank. The kinetic impact screamed as the smoke and sparks blew off from the tank, with the tank left in a condition quite ready to fall apart. Miho and the everyone else noted this scene and stared as the oh so familiar tone of a white flag popped out of the hull roof of the T-60.

Another familiar sound arrived, the clacking the tracks and the gasoline whir of an approaching assault tank.

* * *

"Tank down!" Emma yelled above the open cupola hatch.

Naomi sighed as she lifted her eye from the telescopic scope.

"Okay!" Kay yelled out in joy from the bow machine gun position.

"Don't let the other one get away!" Katyusha cried out as she, in the loader's position, brought up a 75 mm AP shot from the ammo stowage in the hull. She hauled the 20 pounds round into the breech, sliding it in and the breech block automatically seals shut.

The M4A3E2 Jumbo from the second tank garage was still with maintenance for the 76 mm conversions when this whole conundrum started. Emma started it up as soon as possible, with Kay and Alisa following her lead in the crew compartments. Along the way, they picked up Katyusha seemingly out of the bunch and Naomi, who was sniping in the same building. The girls quickly adapted to their hastily chosen positions. Katyusha fell into the loader's hatch to the bottom of the turret basket, Naomi climbed into the cupola to the gunner's position. Emma climbed the tank swiftly and swung along the barrel of the new M2 Browning into the cupola. Kay climbed in the loader's hatch and Alisa took to the driver's seat.

There wasn't any time to let the garage door opens, so with a nudge from the crew, Alisa accelerated the tank into the large double metal doors, forcing them open with a sickening crunch as the lock mechanism on it broke.

On their appearance, Emma called out the nearest tank target and Naomi serviced the 75 mm appropriately.

Suddenly, a bright burst of purple and red flew into their front hull. _KYOW-KOW-KOW-KOW-KOW_ , the impacts went as the rounds touched the armor like a love tap.

"Target: Second tank!" Emma screamed as she ducked down to viewing through the vision blocks on the cupola. "Our 12! Fire at will!"

The power traverse on the Jumbo activates as Naomi turned the traverse mechanism with her right hand to the left. The turret turned rapidly as it faced its target. The T-60's 20 mm auto-cannon was beyond puny as a tank armament from its very inception, the full load of the shells showed a clear tracer trajectory of each round bouncing a near 45 degree angle from the glacis plate.

Naomi lined the reticle onto the target. The blasts from the autocannon continued futilely before finally stopping, out of ammo. Naomi could see in her scope the Russians around the tank starting to run, scattering away from the tank, as the tank itself started to reverse.

However Naomi lifted her right foot and slammed it down on the right of two buttons on the turret basket floor. The 75 mm gun fired off its AP round and Naomi watched the tracer fly right into the tank's side armor. The blast blew off a few wheel and cracked the tracks, right as the white knock-out flag came up.

Naomi relaxed her eye as she leaned back, "Tank destroyed."

Emma up top looked at the two smoking tanks on the paved plaza in front of the garage. Hatches opened on the tanks as the crew made their escape. "Driver, forwards!" Emma shouted as she climbed out of the cupola, "Gunner, BOG, target infantry with the MG!"

"Okay!" Kay shouted as she manned the M1919. The M4A3E2 slowly drove forwards, with the turret also moving. Emma got down onto the hull roof, then walked behind the turret towards the M2 Browning, mounted on a pintle-mount on the rear of the turret. She took up aim with the heavy machine gun and targeted the Russians.

* * *

"Bloody... what was that?" Rosehip asked as the explosions sounded. Pekoe and Darjeeling peeked out over their foxhole to see the spectacle. The Russians were pulling back, the two tanks were smoking. All of a sudden, three deadly stream of red tracer rounds flew out of a tank, driving forwards from the building that housed their tanks.

"Sherman!" Pekoe cried out to Darjeeling. Both of the girls sported a grin spreading cheek to cheek before they started laughing. Darjeeling patted Pekoe in the back.

Assam and Rosehip made it up as well for the scene. All four stared and laughed in exhausted joy as a new feeling swelled inside them. "That's right you rascals, run!" Rosehip cried out, taunting their foe as she lifted her BREN and set its bipod right on the brim.

The girls brought up their weapons and fired at the withdrawing cadets. Their fire seemed miniscule to the amount of firepower the M4A3E2 was pumping out.

* * *

Miho saw the M4A3E2 emerge out of nowhere from the chaos, knock out the two tanks, and now was firing wildly into the enemy crowd. Emma was on the rear of the heavy machine gun firing, the coaxial M1919 was firing, and the hull-machine gun was also firing out front towards the tank field.

Miho saw the enemy reel back, and Miho turned to the other girls still there stunned. Cheers started to spread as a new hope arose within them.

"Oh, you beautiful baby!" A girl cried in elation.

"Check it out, the Sherman!" Another shouted, pointing out the tank.

"About damn time!"

Miho looked at the swelling morale as she capitalized on the fresh adrenaline rushing through all of them. She stood up and faced them. "Let's go girls!" Miho shouted towards them. "Drive them back out of Ōarai! Use the tank as support!" Miho grabbed her MP40 and ran forwards.

A new direction of assault has taken place. They were no longer bogged down, the girls ran forwards, retaking the primary foxhole lines. The M4A3E2 moved forwards and paused in front of the foxholes as the girls secured the area. Most of the Russians have withdrawn, leaving the wounded behind. Miho and the girls took cover as the medics got to work on the many injured girls left in the front from the Russian tank thrust. Miho climbed onto the M4A3E2 as Emma continued blasting away with her mounted weapon. Bullets were still flying around her as she stood on the exposed area.

"Keep moving forward at walking pace!" Miho shouted behind her. Despite the deafening noise of the rapid .50 caliber rounds being shot out the muzzle, Emma understood and took a moment to talk through the comms. Miho dismounted and the M4A3E2 Jumbo rumbled forwards slowly. Saunder girls kept up with their weapons, taking cover behind the rear as the Jumbo moved forwards to absorb the incoming fire. Miho moved amongst the crowd, urging them to move forwards with the tank. She comes across some familiar faces.

"What now, Ike?" Caesar said as she ran up to her. Behind the scarf-wearing girl was the present Ōarai girlsgathered in their make-shift squad.

Miho pointed towards the field, "Get those machine guns in cover on the upper hills and provide suppressive support for the rest of the team! Go!"

"Roger that, Ike!" Hippo team replied as they, along with the others, ran off. Miho wanted to follow before she felt a firm grasp on her shoulder stopping her.

"Legend!" Hawkins present, her uniform all rugged and wrinkled from her activity, said as she stood before her. "You get back to cover or else you'll be shot down! If you go down, we'll all go down! C'mon!"

Hawkins half-dragged Miho back to the garage, with Miho somewhat resisting the idea of leaving her team alone out there in the night as the battle continued to rage away from the school. But Miho reluctantly followed along to the situation back at the garage front.

The remaining students were cleaning up the mess. It seemed as if each able-bodied student was carrying a wounded one back to the aids station. Miho saw Hana helping an injured Saunders girl along. From one casualty, Miho could see many more: Noriko, Rosehip, Rukuriri, Momoga, Suzuki, Taeko, and many more were being escorted to the aids station. A stretcher ran past Miho as she inspected the blasted tanks.

 _T-60's_... Miho put her hand against the hull of the light tanks. Had this been a real battle, the T-60's hull would've warped from a 75 mm shell impact and the ensuing fire, but these Sensha-dou models absorbed the shot while only registering the knock-out phase of the tanks. _How did they get these tanks here?_

"Move it!" A stern voice cried to her right. A Pravda student was walking three men, arms raised a bit and their combat gear stripped from them, as the girl walked past Miho. "Uh, Ms. Nishizumi, where should I direct these guys?"

"Umm..." Miho looked around the area for a suitable place. "Just gather them by that wall right there for now, we'll find a better place later. Make sure they don't try to run."

"Roger that! C'mon bastards!" The girl urged the men up with a harsh voice. The men reacted confusingly, not understanding a lick of Japanese. "Let's go, boys!" The girl said in English and the men responded. As they moved past, Miho figured out they had another problem to consider about the Russians now aboard their school.

"Ms. Nishizumi," another voice appeared behind her. Miho turned to see a girl holding a man on gunpoint with a TT-33 Tokarev pistol. What was strange was the combination, the man had on a uniform that indicated a different standing or role than the other Russians, and the one holding him at gunpoint was Klara.

"Klara, you're here," Miho said in surprise. Klara was the senior student present tonight and she was absent from the fighting.

"This сука got a jump from me in the beginning," Klara explained. The man did a light grin and shrugged upon that mention. "I was held up the whole time before I could free myself. Forgive me."

"Oh no, that's quite alright. At least you're not hurt," Miho said. "Put him with the others, and help the other girl watch over the captured Russians."

"да, переехать Лоза!," Klara said as she prodded the man's back with her Tokarev. The man moved along with Klara's motioning. Miho watched the Russians gathered up as the Pravda students watched over them.

"Miho!" Someone in the crowd called out, their voice getting closer. Popping out were the Anzio and Chi-Ha-Tan students.

"You girls!" Miho replied. "You're late!"

"We're sorry!" Anchovy and Nishi replied. Despite their armament, the girls look so out of place that Miho privately wondered if it would be more efficient overall if they just stood by the sidelines like Rabbit and Turtle team.

"Well anyways, glad you could make it," Miho continued. Though the instructors helped them train to know how to use their weapons, they could help in other ways than fighting. "Go help everyone carry the wounded to-"

 _THWACK!_

Miho jolted as something smacked into her. Her arms darted on their own as she felt her MP40 fling itself away from her meters away.

"URAAAAAAA!" They yelled, with a new barrage heading towards the girls. Whistles blew and gun fire raged. The bunched up groups of girls got hit from the rounds as everyone reacted to the new threat.

"It's coming from the left!" A Pravda student cried as she raised her rifle. Miho looked towards the direction. A squad of Russians had emerged on the left flank, blasting away at the vulnerable girls recovering from the first assault. Some of the wounded were hit again as they were caught in the opening shots.

 _Where did they come from?!_ "Take cover!" Miho yelled out. The scene was chaotic, ths Russian group had caught the unexpecting girls hard. Many of the girls were running about looking for a place to hide behind. Miho dove and caught her MP40. However, she found out why her weapon flew off her on inspecting it when she grabbed it. A round had ricocheted off the top cover on the MP40. Her firearms saved her, in exchange it was bent beyond usability. Miho tossed it aside and grabbed the nearest weapon, a PPSh-41, that she could grasped.

Miho, the weary, and the new, all fought back desperately against this surprise attack. Their foe proved to be like machines, dedicated and hard, and did not stop until defeated. It was 10:03 PM.

Even though the front lines had moved, the Battle for theŌarai Garages lasted for hours.

* * *

 **Top Deck Port Side , Ōarai Carrier**

Miho took a long-awaited seat on a wooden bench on the outskirts of the school carrier. Her eyes weighed in heavy, her head spinning from an adrenaline crash, her arms and legs ached under the stress it had been through the night. She and her team fought on until the garage territory was stabilized, it wasn't until then that the toll of combat reached her mentally and physically. Miho couldn't find solace until she found herself staring out into the tranquil sea. Her PPSh-41 leaning on her body, the drum magazine out and its bolt closed, safe from firing. She took a break from it all as the firing continued in the tank field.

The Russians were routed. However, even now, the Russians have split up into the massive arena of the tank field. Each pocket of Russians has formed their own resistance circle, fighting with partisan tactics against the girls who volunteered as to sweep them out. A long, drawn out battle awaited them as the battle raged between small squads out in the tank field now.

"Hello Miporin," Another weary voice said as she approached. Saori was exhausted from the night.

"Hello Saori," Miporin replied back with a tired, burnt out voice as well. The two sat down side-by-side, contemplating the events that has transpired.

"That was something..." Saori said, her only words about the situation.

"Yeah..." Miho relived it in her head. "It was nothing I've ever seen before in Sensha-dou, even with Kuromormine..."

A pause took place between the two tired girls.

"Say, Saori," Miho found a topic. "What time is it?"

Saori looked at Miho as she registered the question, her actions sluggish with her stamina. Saori brought up her phone and turned on the display. "1 o'clock AM..."

Miho stared out into the sea. _1 AM_. "Gosh, it's late..."

"Yeah, Miporin..." Saori sighed as she laid back. "They take these things really seriously... too seriously..." Saori muttered. "Why did they even do this anyways? What were they planning to achieve? They didn't even actively try to make it to our garage like Yukari does with her missions."

"It's because they didn't plan for that," an icy can touched Miho's forehead. Miho looked up to see Emma with a few fruit juice cans from a vending machine.

"T-thanks," Miho said, taking the cold refreshment. Saori also received one as well as Emma rounded the bench in front of them. "What did you mean by that?"

Emma had her own can as she took heavy sip from it, then clearing her throat. "The Russians don't conduct these operations for a scouting purpose like we and the Americans do. These attacks are shock-and-awe."

"S-shock and awe?" Saori asked.

"They strike you hard, right before the day of the match, to disorient and exhaust the opposing team with the strike force," Emma explained. "So you wouldn't be able to perform at your full capacity."

Miho didn't have the energy to react to that, but sighed in acceptance. If the Russians planned to exhaust them, then by god they accomplished their mission. The firing in the distance still in the middle of the night already ensured that the Ōarai girls were going to have their hands full for the next couple of days.

"What happened to all the ones we captured?" Miho asked Emma.

"The officials have allocated the desolate lot of land that used to be part of the Tankery clubrooms. The place is still good enough to house the Russians."

"The place where we found the Panzer IV's barrel, right?" Saori asked. Miho nodded in confirmation.

"The school official is looking at it optimistically though," Emma continued, "Since tomorrow is still a weekend, they can announced some sort of foreign meet-up for girls interested in the Russian culture."

"That sounds nice at least," Saori said.

"The Russians that were injured tonight were also carried to the nearest hospital for treatment," Emma said. "We got some serious ones, but it is not like anyone is going to die."

"Yeah, that's nice..." Miho followed up. A question nagged on her as she heard this. She didn't want to ask it, but Miho felt it was her responsibility as the team leader to understand it. "And what are the casualties for tonight?"

Emma sighed, then she reached into her right pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "The aids station reported...124 admittance. On our side, we have 83 hospitalization, and 45 are long-term." Emma folded the paper back up. "The long-terms won't make it in the next match..."

"45..." Miho and Saori pondered on that number. "We lost nine tanks...?"

"That's how it is," Emma defeatedly gestured. "This is also tankery."

Miho crumpled her face in her palms, rubbing her eyes as she thought of the situation. The match coming up in two days now is forty tanks per side. Miho thought about the casualties, who were going to be absent, were there replacements for them?

Emma shaked her heads. "Don't worry about that right now, Miho Nishizumi. When everyone is up and at them tomorrow, we can organize the team composition once more."

Miho took a deep breath, then exhaled. She thought of the situation over the rapid footsteps. "You're right... right now we got some other stuff to worry about."

"Yep, just leave it to me on dealing with the Russians. We'll snuff them out before... hey, what's going on?" Emma glanced at the scene.

"I-I'm not sure." Even Saori was flabbergasted. The ship girls were rushing on the deck, running towards the bow direction. The girls acted with haste with a mannerism of obedience to protocols. The sailor uniformed girls nearly created a sea of white on the ship itself with the crowd that formed.

Miho got up, placing her submachine gun down as to not cause alarm as she waved a girl down. "He-hey! Excuse me! What's going on?"

"Huh? Man overboard!" The girl shouted quickly before continuing with her routine.

"Huh...?" Miho wondered. After everything that happened, now there was a man overboard? Did some drunkard just stumble off the ship at this time?

Miho decided to follow the crowd, leaving Saori and Emma behind as they tiredly just watched as Miho made her way.

She ran along the crowd as they gathered by the railing on the deck. A crew operated a nearby crane, the lights blaring as the heavy equipment got under way. Miho went towards the railings and looked down. A heavy mechanized effort was underway with the target. A bright orange lifeboat was present in the water. Ship girls in the lower decks were using long rods and pulling the large, encased lifeboat towards the carrier's hull.

It was the large type of lifeboats that Miho has seen across the carrier, big enough to carry up to 20 people if they squeezed in and had its own propellor for power. The large boat was kept in place as a crane lowered its hook to snag the latch above the boat.

Miho watched the event unfold as an ambulance rolled in. Just after a heavy day with the Russians, the emergency service has to deal with another circumstance. The crew readied a rolling stretcher as the lifeboat was hoisted above the deck. The crane rotated slowly in an uncivilized manner compared to the ball bearing turret rings on the tanks as it brought the lifeboat over land and brought it down to the ground. The paramedics opened the door on the lifeboat and went in.

A moment later, they pulled a body out of the lifeboat. Miho moved in closer to take a look.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

The girl's clothes was a disgusting yellow, a full coverall bright in the darkness that was made for eye-catching high visibility. She was bare foot below the yellow pants, her feets were darkened from the filth it has been through.

But Miho would recognize that face anywhere. The face that always exhumed pride around her presence. A face so stubborn, so dedicated, so heartened by her goal for success in this world. The face was smothered with grime and filth, its refined texture smeared from inattention and time. From only those details, Miho would not have recognized her at first glance, but the grey blonde hair, reaching down to her shoulders, and as the paramedics checked for life on the unconscious girls, they opened her eyes for iris movement. The light blue eyes shined brightly as a medic waved a flashlight over her face. The features match, and Miho couldn't help but gasp in shock as she realized who this person was.

"Erika?!"

* * *

 **THE PLOT TRAIN HAS NO BRAKES**

 **When I originally wrote this chapter, it was actually combined with Ch.21. I wrote it all out and it clocked to around 23K+ words. However, after consulting with some people, it seemed that this length was quite excessive for a single chapter so that's why I elected to split it into the previous chapter and this one.**

 **Regardless, Happy FOURTH OF JULY for my fellow Americans and anyone else willing to celebrate with us! If you haven't already, feel free to Follow and Favorite this story to keep up to date with the newest updates! Feel free to leave a review as well, because it is always nice to hear from you all on my story.**

 **Have a nice day!**


	23. Defining the Stakes

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 23: Defining the Stakes**

 **Loading Docks,** **Ōarai Carrier**

"Here", Isabelle handed over a black plastic case to Yukari. She shifted her balance as the ferry under her swayed with the waves of the English Channel. The open end of the loading docks sprayed in the sea mist and wind as the water rocked the metal structures.

Yukari took the case, big enough to be a briefcase, from Isabelle. Along with her large khaki military backpack, a shoulder-slung messenger bag, and two weapons packs, the briefcase felt as another hefty addition to her load. The briefcase was sturdy, but was not loose like how the M3 Grease gun bumped around in its case.

"Is there anything else in there, Nonna?" Isabelle yelled back to Nonna. She came back from the interiors with her usual stoic expression, but held up a rectangle block in her right hand.

"You forgot this."

Isabelle checked her pockets. "Damn, good catch." She said as she retrieved her phone.

Yukari waited idly by their baggages as her two seniors departed the ferry. "Here, I'll take that." Isabelle gestured and took back the package, as well as the messenger bag and the M3 "Grease" gun's weapon case.

"We're really walking all the way back?" Yukari asked in a subdued plea. They didn't have much stuff, but they were heavy.

"I don't trust military equipments in a cab." Isabelle said. "Isn't there like a cart we could use?"

"Yeah, to bring the stuff to taxis."

Isabelle hunched another bag over. "We're carrying then. Surely you can survive the walk, Yukari?"

"Well…" Yukari readjusted her grip on a case. "Yeah, but…"

"Then it shouldn't be a problem. Nonna, help me with this. Let's go."

Yukari sighed. She couldn't waver Isabelle if she wanted to.

Their flight from Moscow back here was anxiety-inducing. Yukari wondered what were the policies in Tankery against stopping an exfiltrating force from escaping their territory after committing espionage. Isabelle caught her eye wandering off to the background, looking for suspicious characters. Fortunately, their trip was uninterrupted to the airport in France.

However, their phone call back in Russia never went through. As such, Hawkins' Blackhawk helicopter was nowhere to pick them up. After some talks, the girls managed to catch a ferry to take them to the Ōarai carrier off the coast. Still, the silence from the carrier worried them until they saw that the carrier was still there.

The morning sun has just broken the roof tops of the urban housings when the girls finally made it back to the school. The green school gates were eerily left open, its reason unknown. Out in the open, the girls could hear the sound of firearms discharging. Their first thoughts were of an early morning practice session.

But as they approached the school, it dawned on them that something more has happened here. The first sign was stumbling on a metal helmet left on a pathway. The second was the new

"What happened here?" Nonna asked, looking at the damage on the school building.

Isabelle approached one of the said damage, a heavy dent on the school's white walls. From the impact, cracks spiraled out like spider legs. "Bullet holes," she said while running a finger over it. "Rubber ones, judging from the shallowness of the strike."

"Why is it all the way out here?" Yukari asked. Their practice range for small arms was pointed the other way.

"Well, considering this and its...oh, 20 other bits on this wall," Isabelle waved over the entire school wall. Yukari noted that the entire wall was peppered with the marks. "I think 'accident' could be ruled out."

"Then how-?"

An explosion sounded in the background, causing the three ladies to spin towards the sound as the noise echoed away. Like in a concert, the act was followed by tiny cracks of bullets. Isabelle pointed towards the commotion. "That's your answer. There's fighting going on."

"Fighting, with who?" Nonna asked quickly. "If there was fighting onboard… that means must have been in trouble!"

As they talked, Yukari was rapidly browsing through her phone on the news site of Ōarai carrier and the school. "I got it! Right here, uh, it says that our school team was raided by… Suvorov!"

"Suvorov? So they decided to attack the same moment we were gone?" Isabelle shook her head.

"Katyusha must be in trouble! я должен идти!" Nonna shouted, dropping her baggage.

"No, wait!" Isabelle dove for the baggage as Nonna ran off. The box hit the ground with a _CRUNK_. "Ah, shit. That was the box with the binos too…"

"You need help with that?" Yukari asked, though her hands were quite full with what she had already.

"No, I got it."

"Okay…" Yukari acknowledged. "So Suvorov coming to our school… did you think it was a retaliation for what we did?"

"Doubt it." Isabelle said, dusting off one of the fallen box. "It takes time to organize and launch an attack. They were planning to do this from the start before we arrived at Moscow."

"But you seemed concerned about their timing…" Yukari asked.

"That's because Suvorov's raid plans always involved attacking at the night before the matches," Isabelle explained. "Not two days prior. It's always been their strategy to attack before the match."

"Why?"

"To disorient their opponent. Occupy them, drain them, force the opponent to spend the night dealing with an enemy force so that they'll be exhausted on the day of attack. Suvorov wouldn't suffer much as these attacks are led by their airborne corps, not the tankers."

"Airborne can get involved?" Yukari asked with surprise. "I thought Tankery is suppose to be between the teams involved!"

"That's what the official rules say. But in practice, these kinds of raids are still considered 'unsanctioned' to the actual match. Its more lenient in a way."

"Oh I see, like Tankathalon!"

"Like what?"

"Uh, nothing," Yukari said. "Ah, let's move on so we can get all these stuff dropped off."

"Right. Let's go."

The two continued walking down the path to the garage. On the way, they came across an empty Russian helmet out in the open, its original owner unknown. More dents from the high-velocity projectiles appear as the sunlight cast shadows over the uneven wall, showing each scar in the plaster. _The school…_ Yukari thought somberly. "Another mark on its history, huh?"

"Did you say something?" Isabelle asked.

"No, nothing…" Yukari said as they continued to the assembly area.

The garages were no better. The brick walls were no longer the smooth texture they once had, but rough and corroded. The place bristled with activity, with the girls present active and about. Yukari couldn't help but note the assortment of weaponry now visible, ranging from the submachine gun to pistols. The atmosphere also had a new feeling in it, a sense of paranoia and urgency; far away from the usual social school club one.

"Isabelle, ya bloody yank! You're late!" A cocky English voice rattled out in the crowd.

"Emma, you look like hammered shit," Isabelle shot back, putting down her baggage.

Emma truly did, despite her white grin. Her hair was a rough mess, strands floating and protruding all over. Her uniform was rumpled up and wrinkled from wear and tear. She was sweating, with grease on parts of her face from her M1 Garand, holding it in her right hand. A Webley revolver was holstered on her left side.

"How was your trip in Russia?" Emma sniffed, wiping her hand across while streaking another grease stain on her face.

"Fun, Yukari had a blast."

"Oh? Is that so? Did you, Yukari?"

"Oh! Ah...yes! I have so much to tell everyone for the upcoming match," Yukari said excitedly, then she looked around concerned, "Hey, where is Miho and the others?"

* * *

 **General Hospital,** **Ōarai Carrier**

The green monitor blipped steadily as it picked up the vital signs.

 _Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep._

The sound continued with each interval the line makes, linking with the heart beats of its patient as she laid on the bed. Her chest moved up and down slowly as she visibly breathed in and out.

Miho watched over Erika as she laid there in her unconscious state. Her dirty body cleaned and mangy clothes removed for a sterile hospital gown. Her appearance reminded Miho of the girl she always known as Erika. Many questions prodded Miho with her sights, but she knew she wouldn't get the answers from her now.

However, her body was a shell carrying even more questions for Miho. Bruises were present in various sizes and density on Erika's body; her arms, her legs, her torso, her joints, her face… Blunt trauma had been the cause, the doctors said, the damage hit the skin and the flesh underneath, but none was so severe to break bones. But these splotches of dried blood under the skin were vile sight against Erika's pale skin.

Miho mellowed in that detail for hours. Examining Erika like a comb for any more clues. Was there something she's missing? What caused Erika's injuries? Was she thrown about or… did someone inflict it? If so, who?

"Miho, you are still here?" Hana spoke at the door as she walked in. The large hospital room holding other patients from the night before was still quiet in the morning as Hana and the others walked in.

"Good morning," Miho said to them.

"Miporin, did you even sleep last night?" Saori asked, looking into Miho's eyes.

"No...no," Miho glumly answered, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "It's just that...so much has happened."

"Yeah, I know…"

"If I could transfer my sleep over to you," Mako said. "I would."

"Thanks Mako," Miho said as the trio moved in.

"Has she stirred?" Hana asked.

"No," Miho stated, "She's been unconscious ever since she got here."

"Is she going to wake?"

Miho looked at the Erika, still unresponsive, "The doctor… said that her physical and mental condition indicates heavy exhaustion," Miho tried to find the words. "He said she might not wake in a few days, maybe weeks…"

"I see…" The girls calmly dug in the facts. But the others couldn't help but wonder what Miho was going through. This was the first sign of Kuromormine in a month, and it was a washed up girl in a lifeboat.

"Nishizumi-dono?" A voice echoed from the entrance. The four girls instantly zoomed in on the familiar voice.

"Yukari?"

"Nishizumi-dono!" The girl ran over and glomped onto Miho. Her full body weight nearly toppled Miho. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah! Yeah, I'm fine," Miho reassured Yukari, catching her balance.

"I heard about what happened. I couldn't believe it!"

"Yeah, it's a very different level of-"

"I should have been here when it happened!" Yukari spoke out. "I wanted to be there fighting with you girls! I didn't want to leave you all to that!"

"Yukari, sshh!" Miho hushed the hysterical girl. "We're in a hospital, there are people trying to rest here."

"Oh, sorry!" Yukari held herself back, regaining her composure. "I, uh, I'm just worried about you girls…"

"We're all fine. Thank you for your concerns Yukari," Hana said with a smile, her composure straightening up for full attention towards Yukari.

With the noise dying down around them, the hospital's business commenced. Above them, light footsteps sounded under the shoes along with the crinkle of carts rumbling along. Curtains shake as they were swayed in and out. Beeps and boops clicked around the hospital in the room and in the halls. Under these noises, the breaths and the groans of the living patients all around could be pinpointed from the artificial sources. Though to Miho and the girls, one sound was established in their heads.

 _Beep...beep...beep...beep...beep...beep._

Miho and Yukari's faces turn from each other towards the bed. The incessant beeping, declaring the vitality of its user, continued with its green hue.

"What happened here?" Yukari looked at her, unaware of her presence. "Why is Erika here?"

"I don't know…" Miho said, back in her weary voice. "She just…appeared, after our match..."

She was at a loss of words. Everything was still a mess. The only thing she knew about Kuromormine now was that Erika was safe in the hospital. The mystery has barely been touched.

Miho reached out, slowly and gently, with her hand towards Erika. She brushed the back of her hand down her cheek, brushing over one of her bruises while at it. The smooth skin radiated with body warmth, an improvement from hours ago when her skin was chilled to the bone. The pale color on her skin when she emerged from the lifeboat has saturated with a vibrant shade, stained by the bruises under the skin.

"Miho…" Hana grasped Miho's shoulder. "I know you're worried, but it's almost time we met up with everyone else. Erika will be safe here, but we have to leave soon."

Miho did not react at first, staying fixated at Erika as her hand grasped her's. Erika's pulse pumped strongly inside, the sensation and warmth of her flowing blood transferring to Miho. "I'll be back soon…" Miho said. It might hit deaf ears, but she hoped it would resonate within Erika. She then got up from her seat, "Sorry about that, let's go."

As the girls got up to leave, they tried to comfort her. "Don't worry about it Miho, you can visit later. Maybe her condition would have improved!" Hana said.

"She probably needed the sleep a lot more than any of us," Mako said.

"We won't know anything until she wakes up," Saori said. "So don't worry. I'm sure the doctors will say something once she's up!"

Yukari tried to find something to say, but she was still trying to absorb everything. How could so much transpire in just one night? She was as lost as Miho in this sea of blank information.

And the match is just tomorrow…

* * *

 **Conference Room,** **Ōarai Carrier**

"Alright...everyone here?" Isabelle said, convening the group to the subject at hand. The school team's captain had gathered for a meeting; just like the one after the scouting with the British cadets, but a new subject has sprouted from last night. The student council was present, despite being absent last night. Anzu chewed on a sweet potato carelessly, though Momo and Yuzu sat in an uncomfortable atmosphere, as though their non-participation alienated them from the other's experiences.

It was easy to tell who was there last night, all the girls were worn out, expressing it in different ways., Momo was near unresponsive while Yuzu tried her best to stay true as an accountant. Kay was quiet and calm, her demeanor filled with latent seriousness. Darjeeling sipped on her steaming tea, completely dark with its high tea concentration. Katyusha laid her head on Nonna's shoulder, staring forward in a weary state as Nonna stroked her head. Mika was present with her kantele, but also a blue shade pillow that she has planted her head on and may or may not be asleep. Nishi tried her best to look attentively, but she was slowly nodding off as her face slowly drooped down. In one instance, Nishi's head hit the table and she jerked herself awake from the impact. There was one team captain missing, her position filled with a blonde girl with her hair reaching past her shoulders.

"I'm here for Anchovy," Carpaccio noted to Isabelle.

"Ehmma izs abbzseant ars whell," Anzu said as she chewed on a dried sweet potato. Her food was not unusual on the table. It was nine o'clock in the morning, and everyone present had a meal from the nearest convenience store to feed on, ranging from sandwiches to onigiris.

"Well, she's not-"

 _*Boom*_ , a dim but noticeable explosion could be heard. Momo and Yuzu reacted instinctively, but everyone else has been numbed out from such noises. Isabelle paused only for a second, continuing before the noise completely disappears.

"-not important… Anyways, we're still gathered here. That's great, none of you were severely injured. Let's just hope you Anzio students don't get too badly hurt soon, and-"

The door creaked open as five girls entered.

"-and the star shows up." Isabelle finished. "How are you, Miho?"

"Hmm?" Miho looked up. "Oh, uh… I'm okay."

"You sure?" Isabelle looked at Miho with a probing look. Her eyes prodded Miho for further depth.

"Well… yeah…"

Isabelle just nodded softly, "Well, take a seat. I was just about sum everything from last night."

Miho walked along the conference room to the closest open seat. Her team stared at her, not to admiring, but in concern for her well being.

"Yukari, you're ready to present?" Isabelle singled her little agent out.

"Oh! Yes! Uh, now?" Yukari said in the spotlight.

"Later. Just hang about. Now, we all set?" Isabelle reconfirmed the room's attention."

"Get on with it!" Katyusha raised her head from Nonna to cry out, irritated by the constant interruptions.

Isabelle clicked her tongue, "Right, anyways…" Isabelle messed with a machine on the table, "While this projector boots up, let's talk about last night and our… available crew members. So, I got all of your recall and tallied it with our available troops."

"How many do we have left?" Darjeeling asked. Her team was not as affected as the others.

Isabelle sighed, "We only have enough able-bodied team members for 34 tanks."

The room murmured at this figure. Kay took her legs off the table and her seat came back down. "I'm sorry, we have 34 tanks?"

"Yeah."

"How many tanks are for the upcoming round?" Kay asked.

"Semi-final matches can have up to 40 tanks." Isabelle explained. "You're about to have an uneven match-up tomorrow.

"Six tanks deficient against the enemy," Darjeeling said. "Well, I don't think Ōarai should have such a big problem."

"What do you mean?" Isabelle asked.

Darjeeling turned and faced Miho. "A single rice can tip a scale. Miho Nishizumi and their team are expertise in managing outnumbered teams for victory. Isn't that right?"

Miho did not respond.

"Uh, Miho?" Saori whispered towards her.

"Huh? Oh! Uh," Miho broke from her train of thought, trying to catch up. "What?"

"You can lead our team to victory? Miho-sha?" Katyusha said sternly. "We're down six tanks from the 40 standard in the match."

"Hmm…" Miho thought about it. "It's not that bad. We're only down by 15%. If we can maximize each tank's ability for a kill, we could still win!"

"I'm afraid that's the issue there," Yukari chimed in. At the same time, the projector finally came to life with its beam of light. "Whether we could kill our targets."

Isabelle placed a USB drive into the projector and the screen loaded the data. "How about let's go over what Suvorov has in stock for you girls tomorrow? Mika, can you get the lights?"

Mika, next to the switch, did not stir from her pillow.

"Mika!"

"Guh?" Mika raised her head with half-opened eyes. She looked at Isabelle funny for a moment, then turned and freely tapped the light down, then crashed back down.

"Thanks." Isabelle said as the projector image became clear in the darkness. It showed the scout images Yukari took on the field, the first one being the gathering of the Russian tanks out in the field. "Yukari? If you would?"

"Right," Yukari got up and head towards the front, the field expert in the room now. The screen loaded with its first image, and Isabelle tossed her the remote. "So Suvorov team, right here, is a trained military cadet school for boys as young as 13. Their leader here…" Yukari clicked and the screen shifted to a man with white blonde hair that accompanied his icy blue eyes. His white skin seemed to blend in with his own hair and the snow background in the night. "Erik Dimitrevich Katukov, he's the school commander. He is also the commander in their breakthrough heavy tank IS-3."

"Excuse me, may I speak?" Nishi raised her hand. Yukari confusingly nodded. "The IS-3? Isn't that post-war?" Nishi said sleepily, her voice slurring, but understood the topic at hand.

"IS-3 was built in spring 1945, it is completely valid," Katyusha said. "Pravda could've gotten one if they ever had one in stock!"

"Still… an IS-3," Kay and Darjeeling were in deep thoughts about that behemoth. "IS-3 would be quite troublesome in all sides, the Russian designers went all out with that thing."

"We'll worry about that later," Isabelle interrupted. "Yukari, please continue. We got lots of go through and a busy day ahead."

"Right, uh," Yukari caught up. "Aside from the IS, Suvorov also has stocks of T-34 tanks, both the 85 and 76 mm variants in the 'Mickey Mouse' turret."

"Mickey mouse?" Kay perked up on that American icon.

"She means the T-34 1943 model," Isabelle commented without batting an eye from her screen.

"Isn't it the 1942 model?" Katyusha spoke up.

Isabelle looked up, "No? The 1942? They always call it the 1943 in my sources."

"The catalog calls them the 1942," Nonna said, supporting Katyusha.

"It depends on the source and author, really," Yukari pointed out. "Past the T-34, they've got ISU self-propelled guns."

"The 152 or 122 mm variants?" Katyusha asked again.

"Both actually."

Katyusha rashly slammed a fist on her table in rage. "So they did sell us out!"

"Katyusha, please." Isabelle reined in the topic once more calmly.

"Well, that's about it, really," Yukari said. "I don't recall any other-"

"Yukari," Nonna then said. "The 44s"

"Huh?"

"The T-44, from the conversations," Nonna reminded Yukari.

Yukari thought back to the conversation they eavesdropped. "Oh! Right, they have the T-44 medium tanks as well."

"T-44 medium tanks?" Carpaccio said with concern. "IS-3, ISU 'Zverboys', T-44. How do you expect us to compete against those tanks? None of our weapons could knock those tanks out reasonably."

"Not true," Miho said. "The 88 and 122 mm could take them out."

"At close range," Kay said. "88 mm on the Porsche is good, but not that good against 1945 tank designs. Plus the 122 mm got its reload speed issue, and we've got one tank with that."

"There's also KV-tan," Katyusha said.

"That tower?" Kay laughed, "The only thing it's best to do is scare them off or as bait to be skewered!"

"Why you-!"

"Ladies, please!" Isabelle said, acting as a mediator. As the commotion went on, Miho shifted swiftly over towards Anzu.

"Hey president."

"Hey Miho, what's up?"

"Umm, did our school lose anyone yesterday?

"Oh yeah, three people."

"Who?" Miho asked.

"Uh, let's see." Anzu brought up her fingers, counting off. "Noriko from Duck...Takeko from Hippo...and- oh wait."

"What?"

Anzu smiled sheepishly, "Yukari actually, but as you can see, she's here!"

"Hmm?" Yukari heard her name.

"Oh nothing, please continue," Anzu said as Yukari looked absently.

"May I speak?" Nishi raised her hand again, Yukari and Isabelle nodded. "I'm still concerned about this. These tanks we're going against are a huge boost over our last two."

"Yeah, things are getting real rough here," Kay said. "Starting to think our upgrades aren't that big of an improvement here…"

"When the going gets tough," Darjeeling spoke, pausing to take a sip from her tea cup. The Assam tea malt flavor with a tinge of brightness lingered in her palate as she swirled it around, the tea cup clunking as it landed back in its saucer. "the tough gets going."

"Darjeeling's right," Isabelle said. "You're playing with the big boys now; they'll be bringing their heavy gear to make it to the finals. No more playing around if you want to make it big now."

"In a way, we have to fight this like how we would fight in the finals," Katyusha said. "I would know because I did that too in the last nationals."

"We can't hold anything back," Miho said. "We'll just have to try our best tomorrow everyone. I know it's hard to say this now after last night, but there's no better option."

Miho didn't really have anything else to say other than that. She could only trust her friends to do their part. Kay was the first to stand up.

"What the hell, we've made it this far. Ain't no way I'm backing down from this challenge!"

"I agree, everything about this has become very interesting. It would be a shame if we couldn't put our whole might into it." Darjeeling said.

Nishi shot up, "We'll charge our tanks to the very edges of the world for a chance of victory!"

"Anzio hasn't taken things easy since 1943. We won't break that tradition now," Carpaccio said.

"You'll have the iron might of Pravda with you!" Katyusha said out loud. "...after my nap!"

Kay laughed, "What iron might? You're down to four tanks this match!"

"Hey! Quiet!"

"Oi," Mika acknowledged with a small bump into the air. A small, but significant agreement to the team.

"Well, if you're all settled. The meeting is adjourned," Isabelle finally said. "Everyone, make do with the last day until tomorrow dawn. If you're heading back to the garage, make sure to keep your heads."

The room shuffled about as everyone excused themselves.

"Miho, a word?" Isabelle said as the room emptied. Miho pointed to herself in a "me?" fashion as Isabelle confirmed her statement with a nod.

"We'll wait for you outside," Hana said and so the Anglerfish girls left the room, the door clicking shut. Isabelle came over to Miho and leaned aside on a table.

"I heard about what happened this early morning," Isabelle said. "Emma told me about her. I'm sorry to hear about the circumstance."

"No, it's just that…" Miho tried to articulate her thoughts. "I'm just very confused about everything now."

"Well, you certainly hid it well. 's appearance raises lots of questions on Kuromormine among us as well. But the only thing I can say is to not let your mind dwell in it now."

"But-"

"We're not going to get answers now, Miho. It's just not in our resources. We did refer Itsumi's life boat's identification numbers to the International Maritime Rescue Federation to see if this lifeboat did come from the Kuromormine carrier." Isabelle crossed her arms, "but that's gonna take time too, and until their results come in, all we can do is wait."

"I see…" Miho hung her head as she returned to her thoughts.

"So here's what you're going to do instead, alright? You're not gonna keep your head in this. You're going to go out to the field today and lead the team, and you'll lead them tomorrow against the Russians and win, okay? Do that, and when you come back, maybe we can find out what the hell is happening here."

Miho didn't like that option. She wanted to know what was happening with Kuromormine now! What if it was time-sensitive? Every minute spent thinking about it, Miho felt herself weighing in the questions and speculations in her head.

Upon asking herself again "what was going on?" Miho decided she needed something else in her mind now. After barely a minute of private deliberation, Miho looked up straight at Isabelle. "Alright… I'll do my best."

Isabelle gave a small smirk, partly from Miho's renewed purpose, partly to create a response to Miho's decision, something to keep the momentum up. "You go get 'em girl."

"Right. Uh, I'll be off!"

* * *

 **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

"This place looks totaled," Yukari said after a brief examination around.

"Oh man, it felt like they brought everything they had!" Saori exclaimed, her hands pumping about to express herself.

At the first glance didn't look so bad earlier in the morning. But now that the sun was up and shining, the extent of the damages was clear.

The garage windows were mostly broken, the dangerous bits of glass were dangling above, though all the fallen shards have been cleaned up by now. The concrete road blocks, instrumental in the defense, was also scarred by battle, especially the autocannon damages from Suvorov's airborne armor. Hopefully the road services won't charge for the damage, or that it would be eligible in the Tankery league's compensations.

Even the paint on the pavement were not untouched. Bullet marks buzzed off the paint at the impact points. Some lines were diminished from the fire intensity. Even the steel tank tracks in the garage don't do that.

Signs of conflict and hostile presence was still marked as well. Towed to the very side and away from the activity were the two T-60 tanks. Their hull still bore the white flag to indicates its deactivation, awaiting a restart. Next to the tank were piles of equipment, discarded or confiscated from the Russian cadets. The ammunition was graciously taken to feed Pravda's small arms, but that was about it.

"The Russian's had a lot more stuff than we had," Hana said.

"Too bad we outnumber them," Emma said as she brushed up against the group.

"Emma, where are the others?" Yukari asked. "Weren't there more than this from the roster?"

"We've split to two groups, some of are still in the garages, making sure the tanks are in tip-top shape for your match tomorrow. The other half-"

A loud _Brrrrrt_ is heard in the distance, followed by irregular noises from shouting and rumbling in the distance.

"-are out there."

"The Russians are still there?" Saori asked. "How long are they going to be there?! I don't want them to keep shooting at us!"

"Another day," Emma responded. "A rule in these raids is that all irregular combat between two teams cease on the dawn of the match. Teams not in their rightful place have to turn themselves in for return to their sides at the match site."

"Meaning…?"

"It means that the cadets fighting out there have to surrender by tomorrow mornin," Emma pointed out. "Until then, everything is fair play."

"Next morning is a long way away…" the girls noted. "Do you think they may starve out there?" Saori asked.

"That's always a possibility," Emma surmised. "But again, it is an incentive to surrender to us. We have food, they won't have much for long."

"War of attrition…" Yukari mumbled as she looked out at the field. Then she looked back at the discarded equipment and the T-60 tanks. "So… what do we do about these stuff?"

"Well, we would be returning them to their rightful owners along with the prisoners," Emma explained.

"Give it back? Just like that?" Mako said.

"That's just tankery," Emma shrug-spoke. "Besides we-"

 _CRACK-KOW_

Something zipped into the air. Yukari recognized this pattern right away.

"Sniper!"

"COVER!" Emma shouted out, and every girl in the vicinity fell into place.

Silence suddenly filled the garages.

* * *

 **Tank Field, Ōarai Carrier**

The small patrol has halted over a peculiar structure on the field. It wasn't anything they had, that was for sure. They could confirm it by the Russian inscription on it. They were intentionally hidden, brought to the edge of a tree grove, with hastily placed bushes as means of concealment.

"What do you suppose this is?" Cassia said as she brushed her hand against it. _It's made of wood,_ she thought. It was a curious design.

"I read something about this…" Sencha said, examining the green wing color and wire construction. The whole thing was split in the bottom, which had a large square shape where something belonged, but is now gone. "There was a project for a flying tank back then…"

"Flying tank? Be real," Cassia shot back. "This thing?"

"No, see they would put the wings on a light tank and then once they land, they just disconnect and ride into battle. See right there?" Sencha pointed to the distance, her khaki desert uniforms's short sleeve barely reaching over her elbows.

Cassia looked out the way Sencha was looking and saw the familiar imprints of tracks on the ground, especially around the moist areas. The grass also showed the dragging of a large object all the way to their area, where the wings were.

"Interesting…" Cassia eyed the wings more intriguely.

"Yeah, see? They've got to-"

 _THWACK_

Cassia turned over to see Sencha drop to the ground. A puff of dust freshly smacked lingering in the air.

"Contact!" Someone cried. The patrol hit into high gear.

More firing came along. _RATATATA_ , as the air once again filled with bullets. The rest of the patrol hid in the trees as Cassia reached down and grabbed Sencha by the shoulder, helping her to the trees.

"D-damn...it!" Sencha said through her pain.

"Hold it in there! You got a match to get to tomorrow!" Cassia yelled out as the rounds danced around them. She dragged her into the shades of the grove.

"It's coming from that grove over there!" Cranberry called out. "Get the QRF on the radio!"

* * *

Nikolai couldn't believe he was still in for the play.

Last night's debacle, ever since the M4A3E2 Jumbo showed up, had the airborne fall into a withdrawal. Using the cover of darkness, the two platoons split up into the field, disappearing from Ōarai's sights until daylight and fighting with guerilla warfare.

They came, they hit, then they withdrew. The process has been repeated from the night, to early morning, to now. Each time attacking, each time withdrawing, each time losing one or two men.

He didn't know where Albert or Vasiliy were. Maybe in a different group, maybe captured, maybe wounded somewhere in the field. Nikolai could only hope they were safe as he engaged on an unsuspecting group of Ōarai students when they came to examine the wreckage of the A-40 glider.

Ammo was running low though. Several boxes were parachuted for the paratroopers with enough supplies for three days of constant fighting, but only half were accounted for and they were running low per person. This has already caused several groups across the field to surrender, and as Nikolai's stomach rumbled, he felt his group might be next.

But in the heat of combat, senses like hunger disappeared under the stress of the flying bullets. He fired his M44 carbine, keeping track of the rounds and only shooting at figures he could see. Mentally counting his bullets, he let the heavy recoil of the short Mosin-Nagant firing the 7.62x54mmR rounds carry itself up.

His bolt finally locked up, and he reached into a pouch and pulled a clip for usage. Once he closed up the reloaded rifle, he heard the sudden roar of an engine.

"When did that get there?!" Someone cried in his hastily-created squad. In the distance, Nikolai could hear the rumble be associated with the cracking of wood under tracks.

"Oh shit! Tank!"

* * *

" _Tankette!_ "

"Pepperoni! Don't run them over! They don't care what type the L3/33 is anyways," Anchovy screamed out through the radio. The P40 stood outside the forest grove as the lighter and more agile L3/33 tankette drove in. As the 3 ton tank bumped around in there, the spray of its two 6.5 mm Breda machine guns towards the enemy blasted away. The muzzle flash brightened up the shade of the tree groves, each flash brightened up the interior.

Anchovy waited as the fighting continued inside, with the St. Gloriana students covering on the other side of the grove, and so she waited at her position. A minute later, five figures ran out the grove into the field.

"Take aim," Anchovy said as she peered through her vision port. The gunner pulled the gun towards the running Russians. "MG ONLY!" Anzio added the last necessary details in case they get trigger-happy.

The gunner fired the coaxial machine gun and the bullets were traced from the last man to the front. A short while, Pepperoni's L3/33 appeared out of the grove and fired at the same targets. The firing didn't stop until they were all on the ground in one form or another.

"Cease fire!" Anchovy cried out. The machine gun shut off, and one figure rose up. Before anyone can put him back down, he raised his hands. "Alright, look like we got this group."

" _That's for last night!"_ Pepperoni screamed out in the radio as Anchovy tuned in to the St. Gloriana students, telling them of the new prisoners they have to escort back.

* * *

 **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

Yukari glanced up, towards her cover. Everything fell silent as the sniper loomed in the field.

"I thought you said the fighting was out there!" Saori cried to Emma.

"Well, we have one or two stragglers manage to make it through," Emma plainly said, used to this scenario. She peeked around atop the concrete cover to the field. In the open field, one sniper was a hard man to find.

"I didn't see the shot," Yukari said.

"Yeah, he's out there somewhere though…" Emma said. "Hey, reach me that helmet?"

Emma gestured to Mako, who gestured if she was the subject of the request. Emma nodded and Mako stayed low as she rolled over towards the equipment pile. She swiftly reached for one and passed it to from Hana to Saori to Emma. Emma placed the helmet on the barrel end of the M1 Garand in her arms. She slowly raised the helmet sideways out the cover.

 _PWANG!_

"Gah!" Saori cried as the girls flinched. The helmet spun in place as Emma brought it down. She inspected the new dent on the helmet. She then looked at the suspected general location from where the shot came from.

"Alright…" Emma finally said. "I need a volunteer."

"For what?" Yukari asked.

"To run to that building there," Emma pointed towards the garage housing the other school's tanks. "I need you to let Naomi know about the sniper. He is-" Emma used a knife hand towards the direction. "-over there."

"Wha-you're making her run out there?!" Saori cried out for Yukari.

"We need to keep the sniper busy as well," Emma ejected the clip in her Garand, then inserted a clip full of magenta-tipped rounds into the open bolt. "I'll try to keep his head down when you run for it, try to disorient him while you run for it."

Yukari looked at the garage over there. It didn't look too far, but now it felt like a mile away. She shaked her head, trying to look past the hyped illusion as she breathed in and out.

"Yukari, are you…?"

"I'm going, you girls stay safe!" Yukari said as she took up a crouched running position.

"You ready?" Emma said. Yukari nodded. Emma raised a number three on her finger, counting down with each of her nod. Then as the last finger came down, Emma jumped up so her torso was over the cover and fired her Garand towards the sniper.

 _POW POW POW!_

Yukari ran as fast as she could.

 _KROW!_

A heavy incoming shot zipped by behind her. Yukari kept running, not stopping. She remember the concept in the tank gunnery training, that a moving target was a harder target than a stationary one.

 _KROW!_

Another one came. Yukari couldn't tell where it was aimed at, but crushed it as her concern as she made it to the garage.

 _THUM!_

Another shot rang out, a bit different than the rest, but Yukari kept on running until she reached the garage. At the door, she elbowed it open.

The green steel door gave way as Yukari fell through. She looked up to see Kay, Alisa, and Miho looking at her.

"Yukari? What's wrong?"

"There's a sniper out there!" Yukari said with the last of her breath.

"Calm down, catch your breath," Miho said as she crouched next to Yukari. "It's safe now, we got her."

"...what?" Yukari looked up stunned.

"Yeah," Kay followed up. "Naomi's been on counter-sniper duties since this morning." Kay gestured to the second floor railings with the windows. On the other side, Naomi was in a prone position with her scoped Springfield 1903, staring out into the open. "She's got like five of them already."

"So…" Yukari got up, still breathless, "She knew all along?"

"Yeah, why?"

 _Emma, you cheeky little…_ "Heh, well then, guess I got worked up for nothing!" Yukari tried to laugh it off.

"Well, it's good that you're ready to warn everyone." Miho smiled at Yukari's gusto. Yukari was taken aback, this was the first time Miho smiled today.

"Oh, it's nothing…" Yukari said, but wondered how seriously was the sniper situation actually taken by the people who've been here this long. "So what're you doing here, Miho?"

"Oh! I was talking to Kay about some reorganization in the team structure, you know with the losses Pravda had last night, and also on her tank's modifications!"

"What modifications?" Yukari asked.

"Oohoho," Kay rubbed her hands together like a mad scientist ready to reveal her new babies. "Check these babies out!"

Her hands dabbed towards the M4A3E2 Jumbo next to them. Its front plate scarred by small-caliber rounds, but it's not the only noticeable thing on the front now.

"A 76 mm gun! So it did fit!" Yukari squeed on that note.

"Yep! All of our Shermans are now using 76 mm guns!" Kay said proudly. "Hopefully we can get a better punch, especially more than Alisa's time with her own 76 mm."

"Hey!"

"Also, we've placed .50 cal M2 machine guns on each tank as well! Look up there!" Kay pointed to the M2 Browning machine gun atop each turret on a pintle-mount.

"It's still a question on how we could easily use those though…" Miho added in. Yukari simply nodded as the machine gun was possibly one of the worst place to be for a tank crew. Where it is, the commander or its loader would have to expose themselves on the turret to use the gun, and only backwards. Unless they get out of the turret and fire from the engine deck, but that's even more exposed.

"Yeah… it may be cumbersome compared to the Panzer IV mount." Kay said.

"What about the Panzer IV?" Yukari asked.

"Oh, uh, I'm getting a machine gun on the cupola as well. One of the MG34s."

"Wow, Nishizumi-dono, you up for that?" Yukari asked.

"I'm... not really sure," Miho said with doubt. "But, It might be necessary given what we've seen from Suvorov last night."

"Well," Kay clapped. "You two girls go on with that. We need to finish the conversion with all the 76 mm guns, or I'm gonna give Alisa the only 75 mm left unconverted."

"Wait, what?!"

"Let's go!" Kay dragged a reluctant Alisa away as she protested.

"Well, uh, now what?" Yukari asked.

"Well, we still have a long day ahead of us…" Miho said. "We need to worry about the Russian prisoners, the Russians are still out there, and the team composition. It's just…" Miho sighed.

"...just?"

"I'm just worried, Yukari," Miho laid it out. "I didn't expect any of this when I came in. I thought I could actually have some fun for once, just like Sensha-dou, when we fought in the nationals against everyone else…"

"Like how it was before we learned the school was going to close down?"

"Yeah…" Miho said. "When my sister told me years ago to find my own Sensha-dou… I thought I found it here. Sensha-dou where I can fight with my friends and actually enjoy my time with these tanks. But every time, it always gets so...stressful. This isn't fun at all."

"You're right," Yukari said. "It's not as fun like this. But… that doesn't mean you're fighting alone Nishizumi-dono. You said it yourself!" Yukari tried acting pumped up. "We're doing our own sensha-dou with everyone! Everyone we know, we fought against, we worked with, they're all here to support your version of Sensha-dou! We couldn't have gotten this far without everyone, so let's keep this up and let everyone who tagged with us experience the greatest moment of our high school lives!"

Yukari could see Miho's spirit being lifted up. She chuckled lightly, and held Yukari's hands. "Thank you, Yukari."

Yukari felt something rush through her as Miho held onto her. It was interrupted by a _bzzzz_ , the silent rumble of a phone. "One moment," Miho said as she reached for her phone, Yukari was still left light-headed.

"Hmm?" Miho said as she looked at her notification. Yukari looked as Miho seemed to analyze the content way too closely.

"What is it, Nishizumi-dono?"

* * *

 **Apartments, Ōarai Carrier**

"Nishizumi-dono, what are we doing here?" Yukari asked as Miho and her walked up to the main road in front of the apartment housing the transfer girls. It was 9 PM with the sun dead set, yet the building was still lively in the hours before the match.

Miho did not come to partake in the activities inside however. "Katyusha messaged me this morning asking for a private meeting with me outside the apartment," Miho told Yukari. "You don't have to wait for me."

"No way, I don't want to leave you alone at night now." Yukari said with her own rehearsed excuses. "It shouldn't be too big of a deal, should it?"

"I hope not… She was a bit down earlier when we reassigned Saunders to take up the brunt of the force now."

"Can't be helped, Kay just has more tanks and crew to supplement yesterday's losses. I hope she understands." Yukari hoped. Katyusha was a tiny girl with pride, but she was mature.

The two girl waited a few more minutes at the road outside the entrance. The light bled past the glass door, illuminating the grey stone path with a gravel outline and the display flowers in a yellow hue."

" _Psst!"_ A hush said in the darkness. Miho and Yukari looked quick for the source. " _Miho-sha! Over here!"_

Miho and Yukari loomed to the right of the entrance to one of the alley ways between the boundary walls of the building zones. Katyusha, looking like a lost child with her casual clothes, beckoned the two over to her.

Miho and Yukari looked at each other confusingly before they slowly approached. Katyusha disappeared back in the alley as they peered in, the Pravda girl moving deeper into the alley before stumbling out of the restricted corridor to the area past it. Miho went in first, angling her body sideways to fit through. For the first time, she thought of Katyusha's stature as a benefit than a hindrance.

Yukari followed behind and the two popped out on the other end, finding themselves in the rear lounge garden of the apartment. Katyusha could not be seen until she rustled a hedge and a citrus tree. The two followed the path to find Katyusha entering a greenhouse, its interior lathered with exotic foliage. The moon's light reflect off the glass construction cleanly, even as the entrance opened and Katyusha entered, holding the door open for Miho and Yukari as they approached.

"Katyusha, what is this about?" Miho asked.

"Not here, inside," Katyusha responded as she held the door open. Miho entered the moon-lit house. The humidity and heat was still present in the windy night. With the amount of dark spots present, Miho wondered if this was the safest place to be in this time of the night. She flinched as the two glass door insulating the entryway from the heat escaping clicked shut. "Miho-sha," Katyusha said nervously, yet with a serious tone. "I want to apologize for bringing you out this late."

"Uh, it's quite alright." Miho said, but wanted to wonder out loud on why now.

"But this is something I think only you would find urgent." Katyusha said as she passed Miho deeper into the greenhouse. "Nonna! Klara! You in here?"

Miho and Yukari flinched once more as a response came from the darkness "да." Two girls popped out, the tall Nonna and cunning Klara.

Miho's mind raced with this, "What's going on?"

Katyusha looked up to Miho. Miho looked into her eyes and found...restlessness. She was opening up, and her short height amplified on her willingness to stoop even lower than anyone's level to get this message across. "The truth…" her voice trailed off, her fingers twiddling each other. "The truth… about Kuromormine…"

That really grabbed Miho's attention. "Kuromormine? What? What do you know?!"

"The truth is, uh, we have actually have a lead in Kuromormine's...situation."

Miho lunged, restraint kicking in as she resisted the urge to shake that information out of Katyusha. Instead she slapped her hands onto her shoulders. "What lead? What are you talking about Katyusha?"

"Nonna! I got this!" Katyusha shouted. Miho looked up and saw Nonna was in a mid-sprint stance, ready to protect Katyusha. The two girls brought themselves back up and calmed down.

Katyusha continued, "It's not really me or Pravda as a whole that had it, this is new information to me too. Only one person here knows about this."

Miho, as calmly as she could, prodded, "Who?"

Katyusha bit her lip as she looked back. "Klara?"

Klara stepped forwards, her tanker boot still on as the sole clopped on the concrete path. She approached the confrontation and stood firm in attention.

"Klara?" Miho asked, pleadingly. "What's going on?"

"She told me this morning," Katyusha said. "But we didn't want to tell you because we were afraid you went through a lot today, so we wanted to tell you tonight when everyone's gone so it stays between us if you wish. Klara, if you would, tell Miho everything."

Miho looked at Klara, who looked back with regret.

"Forgive me, Nishizumi," Klara bluntly states, her eye and head lowering in a compliant states. "The other day, when I said I was not involved at all with Suvorov… was a lie."

"A lie?"

Klara looked back up for eye contact. "I know many people in Suvorov. Many are old friends from my residency in Russia years ago."

"So are you saying…" Yukari felt wrong asking such a question now. "You were spying on us for them?"

"No," Klara answered calmly to the accusation. "I had nothing to do with them now. Last night's encounter took even me by surprise. However…"

Everyone leaned in closer to get every single bit of detail now.

"It was in last night's attack when I learned what may be happening with Kuromormine."

* * *

 **Last night -** **Tank Garages, Ōarai Carrier**

"Don't move!" The male voice spoke loudly in Russian.

"Ah!" Klara winced.

"Drop your weapon and hands up!" The man ordered.

Klara assessed her situation and sighed. She slowly lifted her arms apart, with the PPSh-41 in her right hand's grip.

"Drop it!"

"Okay, okay," Klara responded back in her native language as she released her grip. The heavy submachine gun clattered loudly on the ground, the rounds in the drum magazine shaked about with the impact.

The two were in a secluded part of the zone, behind the garage in an alley-like construction. Barely anyone passes through here. The man approached Klara, his boots went _CLOMP CLOMP_ as he approached. Klara could feel him inspect her from top to bottom. She eyed back at her fallen submachine gun if she must go for it.

The man stood still on Klara's rear right. The area removed of noise except of their breaths. Her metal piece in her rear pouch suddenly felt twitchy, ready to be used.

"Klara?" The voice reached out gently, its original coarseness and urgentness gone to reveal a more negotiable one, and one that felt familiar...

Klara slowly turned, her hands still raised, to see her opponent. His uniform looked the part of a Soviet paratrooper in World War II. The brown uniform covered his body, with a green hued helmet on top. His gear lined his body on straps of a lighter tan color. Dropped on his right side was his metal PPS-43 submachine gun, hanging by a sling. In his hands, he held a pistol that was slowly lowering as Klara looked back. Their eyes met, and Klara felt a name spring up into her mind.

"Loza?" Klara said as he sprouted a small smile. Klara slowly lowered her hands as she saw him lower his own, strange pistol with dulled color.

"My gosh..., it is you Klara," Loza looked at her like he still couldn't believe who he was talking to. "I haven't seen you since middle school."

"Stuff happened," Klara mildly said, her arms full lowered.

"Heh, I suppose," Loza moved up to the wall that made up part of the garage and laid his back against it. "What a bizarre situation this has been."

"What are you doing here?" Klara asked, like a person who found their neighbor in their own home snacking in their refrigerator.

"You been keeping up to date with our tactics? You know… Suvorov's tactics?"

Klara looked at Loza, then back at the parachute tangled in the tree, then back at Loza. "So it was tonight?"

"Yep," Loza said, breaking out a gum pack. "Although, if we had known you were here, we would've given you a call. Save us a whole lot of trouble."

"You know I wouldn't answer," Klara said back, "I changed my number anyways, and I wouldn't have told you Ōarai's strength either way."

Loza plopped a gum piece into his mouth and started to chew it, like a succulent little fruit pop. "I figured, but what if he called?"

"Who?"

"You know who."

Klara shifted uncomfortably, her left arm slung across and grabbing her right arm closer. "I… uh."

Loza got up, pacing around menacingly as Klara lost herself. The boot stomped around her. "What _would_ you do? Hmm? I know you two haven't talked in _months_."

"How do you know that?" Klara shot back.

"He tells me." Loza haphazardly said before pausing, taking a stance facing towards Klara. "He misses you, you know?" He pressed the question into Klara, twisting it in as Klara's uncomfort expresses itself even more.

"I… ummm," Klara tried to find a way. "I don't know what to-"

"Hold that thought." Loza said to Klara, then lunged.

His left arm hooked itself around Klara's neck, rolling her across as he came down, his right arm doing its own thing. Klara came down on a chokehold on his left arm, later a human shield as she saw Loza's right hand posed in front of her, carrying a rather stylistic pistol shape.

The pistol emitted a puff of smoke with a _TSST_ towards its target. Klara could trace the dart's movement towards a girl downrange. Nina, with her huge ushanka hat, had a wide-eyed look towards Klara and Loza as the dart sailed straight into her forehead.

 _Thud_. An audible hit as the dart made its mark and was doing its work. Nina staggered backwards as she tried to catch her balance. The effect of the dart's content kicked in as she became sluggy and fell down, out cold.

"Nina…" Klara eyes widened as she stared at Nina's slumped figure.

Loza sighed as he relaxed his grip. "You don't want them to have any ideas of you colluding with us." He said as Klara slumped down. "Else where else do you have to go? Home?"

Klara shot back up and turned to Loza. "Listen Loza! You know what happened! You know I won't go back! I just won't! I came here to get away from them, and I won't go back as long as they're still there!"

Klara's shout echoed harshly in their alley. Loza stayed cautious, checking for signs of suspicions. After a few seconds, petite whimpers came from Klara, as she stared with her head hung on what she said, her voice breaking with an overwhelming feeling in her that she's kept bottled.

"I can't go back..."

Trying to act comforting, he gently placed a hand on Klara's shoulder. Her response was slow, so he brought her in close, his right hand patting her head, comforting her. "Hey, it's alright. It's alright."

He could feel Klara's vitals return to normal as her body was pressed on him. He found the appropriate time to separate from her, making sure she was calmed. At the same time, the background cracked loudly. Both he and Klara flinched as they pinned the source. On the other side of the garage, the ghastly sound of bullets ripping into the wall and girls shouting occurred. Loza pulled back on his watch, "Right on time…"

"Your whole team is here, huh?"

"Yep," Loza answered without beating an eye.

"Is he…here too?"

"Nah," Loza said teasingly. Klara's look on him show she didn't really appreciate his tone. "I mean, you know him as well, don't you? More than me even. You know he doesn't do this."

"It's just been so long…" Klara muttered, clenching her arm uncomfortably.

"Hmm. Well, I might not know him as long as you have, but here's what I know. He doesn't care what your mother or father thinks about you, you know?"

Klara looked at Loza again, this time eager for him to continue on his train of thought.

"He's willing to take you back. Keep you safe. Your mom and dad don't even have to know."

"They'll find out," Klara submitted defeatingly.

"You don't know that." Loza was now leaning on the garage wall, even as bullets crack in the air. "Heh, it must be a nice thought. Having someone willing to protect you no matter what. I don't know how that feels, you know my family, but… it's something... something I can see 'The Legend' do."

"Miho Nishizumi?" Klara clarified.

"Yeah, her. Y'know, I'm sure she's out there ready to protect her older sister, and vice versa. What, with her sister's situation and all."

Klara took note of Loza's specific words. "What situation?"

"What? The situation involving…" Loza trailed off as Klara's words was analyzed. Then his face went with revelation. "Oh...so you girls don't know…"

"Know what? What's going on, Loza?"

"Kuromormine…" Loza walked around, his steps surrounding Klara. "Has been through some tough times recently."

"Like what?"

"No idea."

"Huh?" Klara canted her head.

"It's something I only heard from him." Loza was kicking the dust on the ground as he walked, sounding as carefree as possible like it wasn't his big deal. "But not its details. Only thing I know is that there was a concern with Kuromormine's presence up north."

"That doesn't mean anything," Klara rebutted.

"Why would Suvorov concern itself with Kuromormine otherwise? Why would someone like him be interested about it?"

Klara was silent.

Loza looked at his watch. "Ooh, look at the time." He unholstered his dart pistol and aimed it at Klara, who flinched at its sight.

"Wha-?"

"I mean no hard feelings Klara, but I am still on a mission." He gestured his head towards the fighting across the garage. "If you'll excuse me, I have to-"

Klara didn't hesitate as Loza explained himself. In a swift draw, Klara's arms blur as she pulled her own pistol from the rear pouch. The old flap design did not inhibit her draw as the Tokarev glinted briefly in the light. As Loza's eyes widened in surprise, Klara fired off three rounds into his chest.

The 7.62x25 mm rounds, traveled with less mass than a typical 9 mm round but in a faster speed, carried a similar energy as the bigger round as it smacked into Loza's chest. Klara could not see clearly past the bright muzzle flash, but flakes of fabric and dust blew off his chest as the rounds landed on him. The impact forced Loza to the ground, stumbling back as he barely broke his fall with his left arm.

Klara watched Loza struggle on the ground as she caught her breath, catching up on the facts. She could feel small stabbing pain on her abdomen, looking down to see a familiar dart protruding from her uniform. Klara reached down and pulled the dart out. The sharp end glistening in the air as she dropped it, the empty plastic vessel clunking on the concrete. She could feel Loza's eyes looking up on her, waiting for her to collapse.

Except she never felt any sensation, looking at Loza back in defiance as his facial expression shifted from eagerness, to confusion, to a set realization.

"You… you're…?"

Klara nodded, keeping her pistol pointed at him.

"Resistant…" Loza could only chuckle as he fell down defeated. "You're just like him…"

Klara approached the fallen Loza and grabbed him by the shirt. Pointing her pistol at him, all she got was a mocking "hands up" gesture from him. "Tell me what happened with Kuromormine."

"Oh, so now you're interested, eh?"

"It may be a concern for us later," Klara's chilled voice said as she pressed the Tokarev's barrel on Loza's chest.

"Well then, tell you what."

"What?"

"This information? I had specific instructions on it from my commander. He told me my secondary mission was to tell the Legend, see if she knows about this and gather information if you do. Well, apparently she doesn't from the looks of it. So why don't you deliver this message from my commander to her then:"

* * *

 **Apartments, Ōarai Carrier**

"Tell me what?" Miho asked, impatient for the answer. Klara breathed in and recited his terms.

"He said… 'If you want to know more about Kuromormine…'"

Miho and Yukari gulped.

"'Win. Win in the match tomorrow, and we'll tell you all I know.'"

Silence filled the greenhouse, the humidity wafted in the air as Miho felt a trickle on her head. Sweat had been running through in her anticipation for the answer.

"That's it?"

"That's all there is…" Klara said. "All he was willing to tell me, at least."

Miho stayed silent. "Nishizumi-dono…" Yukari said, her hand on Miho's shoulder as she remained with her thoughts.

"Where is this man?"

* * *

 **Old Club Room, Ōarai Carrier**

"Put that back down!"

"Queen takes it!"

"If you think that's a queen, take a look again!"

"...crap, it's a jack!"

"Hand it over, tovarish!"

Loza laughed as he took in the prize. All Albert could do was throw his cards on the table. "Honestly, I can't believe we're playing this over dorayaki!"

"Hey, c'mon Albert. Give it a break. Dorayaki are delicious," Loza enthusiastically opened the shrink wrap on the snack.

"Hey, uh, Sir Loza?"

"What?" Loza looked at another loser behind him, winning a bet that caused him to refer him to that title for the day.

"There's some girls outside asking for you, Sir Loza."

"Whew, I didn't know I had fans already! Right boys?!"

The room of Russian cheered. The room was big enough for 20 people to sleep in and so the captured Russians had made it as comfortable as possible for the night. They also had their way with the credit system on the convenience stores around the area, so they had stockpiled snacks, meals and drinks.

Loza got up, "I'mma go out and meet these ladies, then I'm coming back for that figurine, Minolta."

"It's for my brother!"

"Sure, sure," Loza said as he opened the door. Backed out and closed the door behind him and put on the best Japanese he knows. "Now who wants a- oh…"

In front of him was Miho, Yukari, Katyusha, Nonna, and a Klara who is facepalming in humiliation.

"Hello there… 'Legend'," the only one in the group he took note of.

"You must be Loza," Miho aptly said.

"I take it you're here for a very specific reason," Loza said.

"Loza… are you descended from a 'Dmitry Loza' by any chance?"

"Huh?" Yukari perked up on that name, in the exact same way as sighting of Erik Katukov.

"I can't confirm or deny that," Loza said. "But it's intriguing, not many make that kind of connection."

"Well, but-"

"We're getting off topic. I think I know why you're here, Miho Nishizumi."

Miho had hit the wall. She looked back at Klara, who simply nodded, then Miho looked at Loza in the eye, despite him being a near head higher than her. "What happened to Kuromormine?"

Loza sighed, "I understand this is important to you, Miho Nishizumi. But I have my orders on this subject, and the statement still stands."

"Please…" Loza broke stride as he heard Miho plead. "I need to know, Loza. I don't know if your commanders know, but I've had no contact with my sister at Kuromormine for weeks, nothing from the school was out of the ordinary in all this time. Only today did I find someone from there, and she's in a coma! So please, Loza, I need to know what happened to my sister's school."

Loza blankly looked at Miho, his pathos being tugged on. He took an even heavier sigh. "I'm sorry, Ms. Nishizumi. I really can't. Even if I wanted to, I simply don't have enough details that would be satisfactory for you. My orders from my superior was to let you know that they know something with Kurmormine, and that was it. Everything else, I have nothing."

"But why? Why won't they tell me?" Miho's hands were nearly grabbing Loza's uniform for the information. "This could be important! I need to know!"

"I'm afraid I can't answer either," Loza answered. He looked glum as he watch Miho go through phases of an emotional rollercoaster. He really couldn't tell anything to Miho if he wanted, he knew nothing further than the existence of a situation.

Miho took a deep breath as he sent back a glare to Loza.

"Very well. We'll defeat Suvorov tomorrow, you can count on it Mr. Loza."

"I sure do hope so," Loza said as he took a bite off the dorayaki. "For your sake and your sister's."

Miho nodded. "C'mon girls," She said as she departed from the old clubs area. Loza disappearing into the background.

"Nishizumi-dono…" Yukari tried to get her attention, but was cautious. She hasn't seen Miho like this in a while.

"Katyusha," Miho said, "Can you really only get four tank tomorrow?"

"Yeah… that's it. Unless some of our girls get discharged from the hospital early," Katyusha said. "We've only got enough crew for the IS-2, KV-2 and two T-34-85."

Miho shaked her head. "It's not enough… but we're going to give everything we've got tomorrow, okay?! We can't lose!"

"Right!" The girls responded instinctively.

Yukari did it with great concern. Her current state reminded her of Momo's state last year. "Not again…" Yukari sighed under her breath as she followed Miho into the night.

* * *

 **This was a hectic chapter… its development I mean.**

 **Summer turned out to be very time-consuming from the story, with my attending to my family and their events. Because of that, I wasn't able to devote much time to the story writing. Another thing was that I was pretty drained from everything as well, so I suppose you can say I took a break from the story. I'm back now, so let's keep this up!**

 **Another reason is that I got into some more writing activities. I manage to become an admin of a Facebook tank page and I'm writing posts and articles of American armor from World War I to present. It's an enlightening experience for me to study American armor development while delivering the info in a condensed, but easy to digest articles.**

 **Still, chapter went through some turmoil in my concern of its quality, to the point of nuking half the draft during the writing process because I was dissatisfied with it. This is why it is important to have a very good beginning hook before continuing, otherwise everything else won't feel "right."**

 **Otherwise, that's it for this chapter! Thanks for reading all this way and for your patronage! If you can't wait for Suvorov's match tomorrow, feel free to Follow and Favorite to get notification for the next chapter's release! See you next time!**

 **Special thanks to** _ **Goodalwayswins98**_ **for reading my draft of an important scene in this chapter and providing feedback!**


	24. Rendezvous

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 24: Rendevous**

 **Tank Garages,** **Ōarai Carrier**

"Today's the day!" Anzu said to the team gathered at the garages. Right before 8 AM and the majority of the team was present, with the match expecting to start at 11 AM, good time can be made transporting the tanks to the French mainland. "Are we all ready for this?!"

The team cheered loudly. Excitement in the air as circulating with their voices. Everyone was adorned in their school's Sensha-dou uniform, which allowed for easy partitioning on who belonged to which school in the crowd.

"Wow, everyone's up and ready, aren't they?" Saori said, shouldering Mako on her left side, who was dozing in and out. "Well, _almost_ everyone."

"Yeah, just look at this team! We're going to do great!"

"Everyone must be willing to strike back after what Suvorov did to us two nights ago.," Hana said. "Being down six tanks might give us the motivation we need."

"Could be…" Yukari could see what Hana meant. "What about you Nishizumi-dono?"

"..."

"Nishizumi-dono?"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. I'm just thinking," Miho blankly said.

"You're not looking so good today, Miporin," Saori said. "Have you been getting your sleep like I told you too?"

"Ummm…"

"Miporin," Saori said like a stern mother.

"I know," Miho shook her head.

"You're not going to become Mako 2.0, are you?" Saori asked. "You need your full sleep!"

"It's too late to worry about this," Hana said. "What is important now is that Miho can conduct today's match in her fullest. Can you, Miho?"

"Yes! I'll give it my best!" Miho said loudly, overcompensating her usual enthusiasm.

Yukari looked at Miho's behavior with concern. She knows something is bothering her friend deep inside. The stakes are much higher than it ever had before. Ōarai shutting down was just a lost in asset, in community. Miho was dealing with something with her family now, a burden only she is burdened with.

"Hold up! Hold your fire!" Emma's voice shouted from atop of a Saunder's new M4 (76) tank. A strange tank combination as no 76 mm has ever been mounted on an original, radial-powered, welded M4 Sherman in known history. A quick reference to the League, however, and they got the necessary approvals for the tank. Afterall, the whole thing had no major advantages over the similar M4A1 (76).

But Emma wasn't talking about the new Sherman at all, but the Saunders forward guard, who were all aiming their Thompson submachine guns towards an approaching group of men. The uniformed Russian men approached the field, their weapons raised in the air with magazines visibly out. The group of Suvorov cadets were rounded up, their weapons carefully taken and placed in the pile, and the men escorted to the growing group of them in part of the cease-fire. All skirmishes outside of the match was to be halted by dawn of the match day.

So as the Suvorov group grew, the girls got curious on the size of the group that attacked them two nights ago was. With a roster of 80 students, reactions focused on two perspective: "that much" and "that's all?" Miho was surprised to see how much trouble these 80 cadets did to their school. She then thought about the current size of the cadets and saw looked still shy of the original 80. They were either still out there on the way back or were in the hospital with the other Ōarai team members.

As the 8:00 hour draw near, order was brought to the gathering. "Alright ladies, it's about time to go!" Anzu shouted out to the crowd. "But first! Any words from our commander?"

"Huh?" Miho looked up, and suddenly more than 300 eyes were on her. "Ummm…" She looked nervously from the sudden attention. Her eye caught on Hana, Saori, Mako, and Yukari. Their facial expressions egg her to go on. Miho took a breath and decided to speak out. "Well… it's been a hard journey for us so far. We've been through a lot of trial and error, encountering challenges that is greater than the last. However, sensha-dou is more than just finding these challenges; we will overcome these challenges with our tanks. So we will fight Suvorov today and we will win!"

"Oi!" The crowd cheered on Miho's last word.

"We have to win…" Miho smothered these words with effort, in a voice low enough only those nearby could hear her. Yukari's and the other of Yukari's keen ears caught it and knew despite her bright aura, it was wearing thin.

"Alrighty then, you heard her!" Momo yelled out with her megaphone. "Let's move out!"

"Right!" The crowd went, then the concrete rumbled as the girls all went to their positions.

"Well, let's go then Miho," Hana said.

"Oh, yeah," Miho belatedly replied. The excitement of the team contrasted heavily with the heavy feeling around Anglerfish. Girls were shouting excitedly as they clamored around their machines. Anglerfish just reached the Panzer IV as the first girls started to rev up their engines.

As Miho and Yukari climbed to the turret, Yukari poked Miho. "Nishizumi-dono?"

"Hmm?" Miho turned her head.

"You think… we should explain to everyone what is happening?" Yukari asked.

Yukari thought back at the time with the student council and the risk of the school's closure. Everyone, including her, were eager to enter Sensha-dou like an everyday club thing. But for the student council who knew everything, keeping it all bottled up inside, it sacrificed the awareness of the stakes. The charge at Pravda at the time, if they had known of the consequences of a loss, they wouldn't have risked it all like that.

It was the same situation now. Everyone is so eager to go out and play a round, but for Miho this situation was completely different from everyone else's.

"No," Miho said with a small smile. "Let's let everyone enjoy it. I don't want them all to worry for me like that."

"Nishizumi-dono…"

"It'll be fine, Yukari," Miho said.

"I'm know it will be," Yukari said back as the tanks in the garage roared likely. "I'm worried that you don't."

Miho did not say a word as she took position in her cupola. Yukari went through proper procedures as the tanks began rolling out. A metallic knocking sounded outside and the girls peered out.

"Yo," Isabelle saluted a greeting in a cadet dress uniform, its style evoking a World War II fashion with its dark olive-drab coloration, with the breast jacket and slacks for the wear. It was certainly one of the more formal wear that Isabelle has been seen in.

"Isabelle," Miho greeted her. "Uh, t-thank you for everything you did for us."

"Oh, the pleasure is mine. It's fun hanging around you girls, lots of interesting things is happening."

"Yeah… lots of 'interesting' things…"

"Mmhmm. Anyways, tanks take priority in your transport to the land, so you girls head on first. We humans are secondary to we'll land with the second wave. I'll coordinate with the Russian cadets here so they'll go back home, so don't worry about them. You hit the shore and start planning out your battle strategy for the match, mmkay?"

"R-right!"

"Alright, Miho. Stay frosty out there," Isabelle extended a hand. Miho, delayed from surprise, reached out and shook on the gesture. Isabelle smiled and started to climb down the tank. "Oh, hey Yukari?"

"Hmm?" Yukari looked out her turret side hatch at the American.

"Keep a close eye on Miho, aight?"

"Uh, right!" Yukari nodded as Isabelle continued her descent. She hope that task wouldn't be too hard.

* * *

 **Shores, France**

The loading procedure for the tanks onto the ferries to travel them to land was not easy. Eight Ōarai tanks would have been no big deal, but thirty-four was a series of calculation in weight, surface area, and order of load. Even so, the infrastructure on the carrier cannot accommodate for the loading of all the tanks in one go. Trips had to be made.

Anglerfish's Panzer IV, loaded together with five other medium tanks on the open-top vessel, was first to depart from the carrier. Hitting the open sea as the sun rose in the morning had a queasy feeling Miho had not been familiar with since their first landing in Britian. Another transport vessel besides Miho's had a KV-2 and three other medium tanks on it, the heavy weight of the KV-2 must've been troublesome to the loaders back in the carrier to make that work.

The girls had the time on the vessels doing their own deed, leaving their seats to stretch and wander about, many using the tank's armor surface as their seats. The boat rocked with the waves, with each tank's friction on the surface preventing them from quickly moving with the motion.

"These waves…" Mako murmured, her face looking green as she sat in the driver seat.

"Please don't do it on the tank…" Saori warily said to Mako as she sat on the hull roof, while glancing around if there was an impromptu container in case Mako's breakfast decides to come up the wrong way.

From the open-top, the girls could see the path the vessel is going. Unlike the last few locations where the tanks arrive on port facilities in the different countries, France was different. The transport was sending the tanks straight to the beaches. "Feels like an amphibious assault…" Yukari commented on the situation.

However, Miho was looking at a large piece of paper spread out on top of the Panzer IV turret. It was a physical map of Northern France, with no other focus other than displaying all the towns atop.

"So we're here…" Miho pointed as she talked to herself.

"What are you looking at Miho?" Hana supported herself from the turret hatch by the handle bars on top, curious on what Miho was looking at. "Where did you get the map?"

"Oh, I got it from the bookstore. They sell all sorts of maps." Miho said.

"Where are we, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari peeked up also to look at the map.

"Right around here…" Miho drew a ring with her finger at the location. "I only know that we're somewhere west of Caen."

Yukari crawled up and got a closer look. "Over there… are we landing at Omaha?!"

"The beach?" Hana asked.

"No, I don't think so…" Miho pointed at a peninsula. "This is Point du Hoc, here to the east so… I think we're landing in the west so...Utah."

"Wasn't this Point du Hoc?"

"Hmm…" Miho looked. "Well either way, we're landing here on this beach, and…"

"What is it?"

"Well, the terrain here is what concerns me."

"How so?"

"Well, see all these little roads?" Miho pointed around the green areas with the large roads. Outside of these roads, like capillaries, were even smaller roads. Watching the geometry shows these roads cutting up the green square patches, like farm fields.

Yukari nodded, "Yeah, they're dividing the land up to… oh…"

"What's the matter girls?" Saori said, joining the conversation from an unknown time.

"The terrain around where we're landing," Miho explained pointing around the map. "Might not be favorable for tanks."

"What do you mean, Miporin?"

"Well, considering the French terrain and our location…" Miho surmised. "I'm worried if we would have to fight in the hedgerows."

"H-hedgerows…?" Saori's eyebrow raised questionably. Mako managed to regain some stability and raised herself out of the driver's hatch.

"It looks problematic…" Yukari analyzed. "We'll have to be careful with the long barrels on our tanks."

"Would these bits of bush really stop a rotating turret?" Saori looked up at the top. "I mean, yeah it's tall, but the tank can still go through!"

"Not these ones!" Yukari replied. "These bocages look like the same kinds as the ones back in 1944! The US engineers at the time needed to use two 24 pound explosive charge just to blow a hole for tanks through these! We'll need something like those 'Rhino' tanks to cut through these!"

"I'm sorry, Rhino?"

"It's a nickname for a piece of improvisation the US put on their Sherman tanks. You know the pitchfork? It was kind of like that. The tank with the 'Rhino' cutters would drive forwards and dig it into the thick hedges, then the the tank's crest of the hedgerow's small mounds underneath would uproot the section for the tanks to pass."

"Well, unlike the US First Army, we don't have the resources to start fitting our tanks with it…" Miho said.

"They also had a few nights to do it," Mako murmered. Her arms now resting on the turret roof as her half-open eyes maintain focus.

"But, the beach not having any other infrastructure outside from the roads…" Miho also noted as she traced the roads on the map. "There's no railways, ports, or even highways for us to use."

"How will we get our tanks around to the match zone?" Hana asked.

"The only answer is that this beach area here closed in by these farm patches," Miho stuck her finger into the piece. "This place is the match zone."

The girls looked at the zoomed out map as close as possible for other details before the horn on the boat bellowed, the combination of the nearby boats amplified their cacophony. Miho looked up from her map, her neck straining as the fatigue of the muscles kicked in, and saw the beach from only a distance away, the bar of yellow sands are now close enough that the wet, brown sediment particles.

"Get ready girls!" A crew member spoke out as he walked down the middle, his neon yellow jacket and clipboard standing out as a person managing this vessel's business. The girls on the tanks climbed back into the boat as it got closer to the beach. He checked various parts of the vessel outside of Miho's knowledge as he went back and made sure everyone was in place.

"You heard him girls, mount up!" Miho said and all the girls nodded before they returned to their positions in their tanks.

Moments later, the man said, "Start your engines!" like a racing referee. Nevertheless, the different engines on the boats pumped themselves alive within the minute of his announcement. He returned back to the bridge once they were all ready.

Miho stayed on the cupola as she watched the distance close in, the boat visibly slowing to brace for the land. The beach was now shoulder to shoulder with the boat. Then, the ramp in front that Miho's tank used to get on fell. The ramp landed before the bright dry sand, the tip digging itself into the clear water with a _sploosh_.

A green light lit on both ends of the boat's deck, then a megaphone-enhanced voice yelled "Forwards!"

Miho reached for her crew comms, "Mako, forwards!"

The Panzer IV Ausf. H clackle as it drove itself off the ship. Past the ramp, the Panzer's tracks crashed into the ocean before it carried itself up on the sand a few inches under. Miho held the cupola-mounted MG 34 machine gun in place as the tank rocked about. A few more meters forward and the Panzer IV found itself on the sunny beaches. A very strange place indeed for a tank unloading. In any other circumstances, this would be a nice vacation spot.

"What a nice big beach!" Saori exclaimed through the radio. "Can we stay here after the match?!"

"It is quite nice," Hana added.

"The sun's blinding here," Mako said plainly.

"It's definitely a nice beach," Yukari noted. _For landing in poor weather,_ she thought to herself as she thought this could be the very area the 7th Corps landed on D-Day. "What do you think, Nishizumi-dono?"

Yukari looked up for Miho's response, only to see Miho not at all focused at the crew's comments. Her eyes concentrated for situational awareness as the Panzer IV continued forwards, then looked to the rear.

Behind the first unloading vessel, the other team member's boats also arrived with their ramps falling. As the tanks started to drive out, Miho looked around the beach. The beach was isolated to itself by the high sea cliffs, the high and fragile walls created by nature's erosion by wind and water. Only a steep sand ramp allowed the tanks to crest over to land, and it was there Miho noticed some referees approaching into view, then beckoned them.

Miho got onto the radio. "Everyone! This is Anglerfish! We have to get off the beach towards the south-west direction on a huge dune by the cliff side!"

The replies came in acknowledging the message. A series of "Roger!", "Ai!", "Affirmative!" came in and Miho switched over to crew comms.

"Mako, drive up that dune over to your right," Miho said.

"Roger that," Mako, as usual as she is, lurched the Panzer IV forwards as she approached the hill. "It's quite steep."

"This is going to be a problem with our heavier tanks…" Hana mentioned.

"Right, let's hope Katyusha can handle the KV-2 up."

* * *

"Hook the cables to KV!" Katyusha ordered as her and Klara's T-34-85 crew hooked on the steel cables onto the KV-2 for its journey up.

As she does, Kay's Sherman and Jumbo team passed by in a rather spectacular display. Three Jumbos, a M4A1, and three more M4 Shermans; all armed with the 76 mm cannon, plus the one 17-pounder on Naomi's Firefly. "You girls need a push?" Kay asked as her Jumbo tank braked close to Katyusha.

"We'll be fine, thanks! Now move one!" Katyusha brashly said.

"Oh kay then Katy~" Kay brushed her off and would've continued teasing until Alisa got behind her.

"Kay! Stop prattling and move up!" Alisa pointed forwards, chastising her commander. Kay childishly stuck a tongue whilst smiling and the Jumbo tank moved on forwards.

"Hooks tide, Ms. Katyusha!" Nina cried from the top of the KV-2.

"Right! Klara, prepare to move!" Katyusha said as she sat back down in her cupola. No reply came and Katyusha took a second glance towards Klara's tank. "Klara!"

"Oh!" Klara jolted. "Apologies, Ms. Katyusha."

Katyusha gave a silent nod as she returned back into the turret. Klara returned to her gut feeling as she glanced up the cliffs. Something about it seemed too… convenient. Especially knowing Suvorov, there was something nagging on her right now that something was-

"Klara!"

"Oh!"

As Klara returned to her duties, a small glint appeared on top of the sea cliffs, one reflecting off a monoscope.

The man above laid prone with a makeshift foliage suit from the local foliage. His body concealed, he held a detached scope in his left hand and a pencil in his right hand as he wrote down key information into his notebook. His reconnaissance has delivered the an ample information of the forces below:

 _T-34-85 = white-blonde lady (?Important)/ Another with a loud kid in it._

 _M4A3E2 = Blonde babe. Footnote: loud, leader co-loader?_

M4A1 = Pigtails, pointing, commanding - important

 _Panzer IV = Commander._

* * *

The Panzer IV crested the beach first, the soft sand finally making way for the sturdier grass and dirt on top. With the tracks now able to get a grip, the tank finally moved normally, instead of the sensation of running on syrup.

Two referee members awaited Miho on top. They were young men, probably in their 20s, wearing polo shirts of white and navy blue color with khaki pants on both of them. They looked like college students trying to make the most of their fashion in a place like this. "Mako, stop about 15 meters away from them," Miho ordered.

"Yes," Mako simply said as the Panzer IV slowly approached the referees before stopping.

"Uh, hello!" Miho greeted the referees.

"Hello there, Ōarai!" The one with a white polo shirt spoke in with an English accent, his dark sunglasses hid any emotion from his eyes outside of the gleaming teeth with his sentence."Welcome to the match field!"

"M-match field? Oh, so we really are fighting here..." Miho said, stumped that she deduced the situation correctly just from the region map.

"Yep!" The same referee replied.

Miho looked around quickly. The large grassy plains, cut up by large hedges, also had a large town center a distance away in the south-east directionof her position. "But… isn't that a town there?" Miho pointed.

"Ah, not exactly. That's a reproduction of a...eh, 1940?" The referee asked his companion with the darker polo, who nodded. "A 1940-era town back in the days. It's all part of the staging. Don't worry, it's completely uninhabited." The man then reached for a large paper document, "This here is the map of the arena for the match."

The referee handed Miho a paper field map. She unfolded it and marveled at the amount of detail the terrain has compared to the previous one. It was a meticulously zoomed in map that showed each tiny road as its own, as well the individual buildings in the town. It was a perfect map for a commander to use on such a battlefield. As she studied, the other girls were peering out the tank for a view. The word "reproduction" ran in Miho's mind as she stared at some of the architecture present in that town. There was a watchtower, and...was that a church? She studied these detail and marked it on the map in the city center.

"Wait, so we can blow that place up?" Yukari asked the men.

"Yeah, pretty much," the referees nodded. Yukari whistled in an "impressed" way. Meanwhile, the other tanks behind Anglerfish started to get up the hill too, some of them visibly slowing down as they saw the view in front.

"Wait, where do we start then?" Miho looked for a reference on her starting position.

"Right here, actually," the referee pointed at their position.

"Wow, so we're dealing with a context of...having complete an amphibious landing and conducting inland breakthrough operations against the enemy?!" Yukari shouted gleefully.

"Uh...yeah."

Yukari did giggity squirm. "Just like D-Day!"

"T-thanks for this," Miho told the referees.

"The pleasure is ours, get your team ready, the match will start at 11 o' clock," the referee said with a parting wave.

Miho didn't watch them leave as she looked around, watching the team gather. She looked at the time, "Well, we still got time until the match. Once everyone gets together, we'll make a game plan for the match. Until then, take it easy girls."

"Don't worry, Miporin! We'll be in tip-top shape!" Saori replied back.

Yukari also felt pumped, but then she looked at Miho and wondered about her psyche. Miho sighed, in it mixed a feeling of relief and strain.

The time passed as the Ōarai compound team continued to climb the dune. The rallying point at a field, Miho had Mako back the Panzer IV under the shade of a grove of trees, where the green leaves provided a sprint of coolness and fresh air. As the girls relaxed with their hatches open, Miho continued to study the map, closely examining each location, memorizing each twist and turns.

Yukari saw Miho continue to stand from her cupola, not a hint of retreating back inside. She climbed out of her hatch and saw her situation. Yukari stared as she tried to find a way to talk with Miho. On one hand, Miho's mindset for her needed victory has taken over.

 _Win in the match tomorrow._ That was the deal according to Loza.

However, this behavior was completely off tangent from Miho's usual self. Has she changed so much with this at stake, or had Miho simply shed a facade she wore at Ōarai? Yukari thought about it, and shuddered that maybe, she might not have known Miho as much as she thought she knew. Miho could be a very different person in her own normal life. "N-nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked.

"Hmm?" Miho turned, her focused facial expression did not waver even as Yukari put on her best face that showed her concern for Miho's well being.

"You okay?"

"Ah, yeah… yeah I am," Miho unconvincingly answered.

"I know there's a lot of pressure on us now," Yukari said, trying not to explicitly mention the deal with Suvorov. "But, you need to take it easy. If you stay worked up like this, something might happen."

"Nothing is going to happen in the match," Miho reassured Yukari. "I'll make sure we get the best from our team."

"I'm not talking about the team Nishizumi-dono, I'm talking about you."

Miho paused as she rustled her map. "I'll be fine."

Yukari sighed, wondering what she could do. There was still time before the match. If she tried, maybe Yukari could try and get the usual Miho Nishizumi back early. Like what was the saying?

"An early bird gets the worm?"

"Yeah…wait-ag!" Yukari jolted as she realized that voice from above was not her own. She slipped from her loader's hatch handle bar and fell, only to be caught from behind. Helped up, she caught her grip and looked back to see the familiar brown and yellow hair color mixture that dangled from this girl's head.

"Slacking off, are we all?"

"Emma, where did you come from? What are you doing here?" Yukari asked her on the right side of the Panzer IV. The "Puma" had returned to her stalking grounds. She wore a camouflaged uniform, the same coloration as the the British cadet's utility uniform. Given she had no other spare clothes with her visit, it must be the same one she wore at Canada.

"Ah, I unloaded with all the other people on the beaches. Isabelle is still down there filling paperwork for the cadets."

"Paper work?" Hana asked.

"Mostly waivers for all the international business going on between the Tankery raid thing."

"Oh!" Miho sprung up. "Uh, I probably should go help out as wel-"

"Oh no! Don't worry about that!" Emma insisted.

"Really?" Miho asked.

"Yeah! I have more pressing issues with you!"

"Uhh…" Miho wondered what exactly it was.

"Can you vouch for me for Montgomery?"

"...what?" The dumbfounded voice echoed from the turret and driving compartment of the Panzer IV.

"Well, you know. I kinda went AWOL for what happened last time," Emma said as a shade approached her from behind. Emma continued, not hearing the approaching boot steps on the dirt and grass.

"Uh...Emma?"

"-and I kinda need someone to back me up when I see Montgomery again"

"When you see _me_ again...hmm?"

Time froze for Emma. For all the energy that she seems to portray, they were all sapped out by the presence of her commander. Her neck seems to creak as the individual spine bones rotate to align her head straight to him.

"H-hi Montgomery…" She cautiously said.

Montgomery showed no mercy as his two fists came onto Emma's head. The knuckles started grinding in a noogie as Emma screamed out "OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!"

"IT'S SIR TO YOU, CADET BROOKE!" Montgomery shouted into her, right from behind. The noise was loud enough to slightly deafen Anglerfish. He continued his noogie as he brought Emma down to her knees, their matching uniforms blending together as Emma seemed like her blood was pumping out of her brain. Without breaking his stride, he simply looked up and had his default face. "Hello Nishizumi, how are you?"

"Uh…" Miho conversed as Montgomery continued his torment of his second in command. "I'm doing great…"

"Really? That's good to hear," Montgomery said. "Was Cadet Brooke here any trouble for you all?"

"Oh no, no. She was fine!" Miho said. Yukari recalled Emma's time antagonizing the girls on the first day, but kept it to herself.

"Good...good…" Montgomery said, ignoring Emma's erratic cries below him.

"You'd leave a cripple to do your own deeds?" A voice shouted from behind Montgomery, towards the rear of the Panzer IV. He looked back without releasing his grips as two men in cadet uniforms approached, their uniforms in the same color as Isabelle's back on the carrier. One was supporting another, who had a cast on his left arm, and was walking with a crutch under his right arm. The injury locations matched to a certain individual along with the voice, which Miho couldn't forget ever since the hospital back in America.

"M-marshall?" Miho recalled, surprised to see him in this condition so far from a hospital. She climbed out of her Panzer IV cupola.

"Heya Legend," Marshall gleamed as he smiled. His and his associate's dress uniform for the US Cadets, complete with a visor cap, looked stunning and formal next to Montgomery's and Emma's utility camouflage uniforms. Montgomery simply scoffed at Marshall's display as he continued with Emma.

Miho leaped off her tank as Montgomery struggled with his victim. "Well, you two have a lot of catching up to you. I'm gonna go over there and DEAL, with this DESERTER!" He lurched Emma up with his hands unmoved from her head.

"Noo! Wait-OW! Monty! I didn't do wrong! Agh! You were gonna give me to them any-wOW! OW! OW!"

The two made their distance as the men and women present stared.

"He's always wanted to do that…" Marshall spoke.

"What are you doing out here, Daniel? Don't you have to be in a hospital for your-," Miho gestured towards his casts, though aware she was indirectly responsible for them. "-your injuries?"

"Pssh, the doctor had the same recommendation," Marshall scoffed. "I can move just fine with help. When I heard you made it to the semi-finals against Suvorov, I just couldn't miss this!"

"Wow, traveling all the way over for that, dedicated!" Saori cried out before whispering. "You think he does long-distance?" Mako shook her head.

"Yeah, might do the same thing if you make it through to your finals, so the doctors are gonna wish you're gonna lose so they get me back!"

 _Lose…_ Miho felt a bitter taste on that word. "Don't worry Daniel. I remember your promise. I'm gonna beat this tournament for the US cadets!"

"That's the spirit, Miho Nishizumi," Marshall smirked. "You'll be going down in Tankery history in more ways than one, Legend!"

Miho tried to hide her discomfort with that name still.

"C-captain?" Isabelle's voice said as she approached, a clipboard in her left hand while she quickly saluted with her right. Miho looked to the front of the Panzer IV where she came from. From there, Miho could see the majority of the Ōarai team has made it up to the rallying point, some tanks still moving about as they got into company formations.

Marshall rested his crutch as he returned the salute, "Hello cadet sergeant. I see you brought your dress uniform."

"Ah, yes! It's..." Emma looked down at her uniform, seeing if anything was unkempt and out of standards. "hard to leave home without..."

"How have you been?"

"I'm good sir, but… what are you doing here?"

"I came to watch the 'Legend' do her deed against Suvorov."

"Well okay, but don't you have to be the hospital?"

"I got you taking care of me now, don't I?" Daniel gestured, his nearby attendant rolled his eyes.

Isabelle sighed, "You really should take care of your health more, sir."

"I do what I want, Isabelle. Anyways, the spectator area for the match is down at the amphitheater nearby, but I'll drop off the cargo with the transports like you requested."

"Roger that, sir!"

"Cargo?" Miho asked.

"More care packages," Isabelle explained to Miho, who just accepted the answer with a slight "oh".

"Anyways, you girls have fun around here. Don't mess up against Suvorov, aight Miho? They're nasty folks to Carius Academy, don't think they won't be nasty to you."

"Uh, okay…" Miho nodded, wondering what was Daniel's standards of "nasty." Before she could ask, he was already walking off.

"Wow, its nice to see everyone again," Hana said. "Its great to know that they're still ready to support you, isn't it Miho?"

"Yeah, I guess it is," Miho said. Her mind refocused to the task at hand.

"Miho-ho~!"

 _That's a new one…_ Miho thought as she and everyone turned to the luxurious voice approaching them.

"Bienvenue en France! S'il vous plait, c'est la fête!"

"Bonjour Dianne," Isabelle replied. "Comment allez-vous aujourd'hui?"

The two traded French gestures between each other in a friendly manner while Miho looked on, watching Dianne's hip-hop attitude soar as she conversed with Isabelle.

"Oh, excusez moi," Dianne directed to Miho. "I did not mean to leave you out, 'Legend'."

"Please, call me Miho," she said, finally finding irritance to that title.

"Ah, pardon. It is so good to see you make it all the way up here to the semi-finals. No one really expected your team to do so well."

"I'm quite surprised too," Miho said. _And I have to make it to the finals now!_

"Perhaps you can surprise us again with your match against Suvorov. Don't think you'll get out of this one easily now! The Russians likes to pummel the new kids," Dianne then smashed a fist right hand into her open left hand, "hard."

 _If everyone is saying so, these Suvorov people are quite 'nasty'_ , Miho thought. "How will they do it?"

"They're really military focused! New teams like yours usually come in with attitudes that this is a game tournament or something like that. They are very aggressive and guile, so be careful in what you see," Dianne said, pulling in Miho with her warning.

"Alright… I'll do my best," Miho assured Dianne.

"You better légende. If you make it past the Soviets, we can meet the in the finals! It will be legendary!"

"That sounds interesting," Miho thought.

"Well, I got to go now, Nishizumi. I'll be watching from the big screen down there! I surely do hope we see each other again with opposing gun barrels! Tootles you girls!" Dianne waved off as she walked off around the Panzer IV.

Her attitude was really foreign for Miho, even in comparison to those she knew in Japan. She only had experience fighting Maginot Girls' Academy against French designs, fighting Dianne and her team would be an interesting experience.

Then Miho remembered which team Dianne was against in her bracket. "She's not going to make it, is she?"

"No, she's not," Isabelle said bluntly. Miho sighed in incredulity to Dianne's optimism.

* * *

The school captains all gathered around in a propped up tent, a simple foldable round table used to hold the field map Miho was given.

"Interesting formation of buildings," Anzu looked near Miho as she chewed her sweet potato, over the tune in the air from Mika's instrument.

"Yeah," Miho's focus shifted to the buildings in the "reproduction" town. The paved road into the town transitioned the terrain from dirt roads surrounded by the farm patches into an urban area.

The town was amazing for a reproduction. If it was a construction of the League's, their capabilities still impress the girls. Two main roads running west to east goes in a half-circle path in the south sides. The buildings line on these roads to create a strict narrow path for automobiles. Though a normal road map implies restriction in travel as one has to go around the buildings through the smaller intersections, for the tanks and their destruction, it gives the girls freedom in their actions in this isolated town.

"Look like some good landmarks are present too," Darjeeling pointed her saucer plate over to the main areas.

On the map, they stood out in the town. A church rose from the large plaza in the center of the town, a watchtower lied a few hundred meters to its south-west on the edge of the village. An obelisk structure was also present to the north of the church, with a fountain at its base. The obelisk stood by the shore cliff, presenting the furthest north edge of the match, a natural barrier keeping the team in line.

"Interesting layout, isn't it Miho?" Kay said as she butted in. "Though I'd much rather go to an actual French town today though."

"It's a very interesting place," Miho said without raising her head from the map. She was studying it very closely.

"Right," Momo said. "Miho, here is the list for the company compositions."

"Ah! Thank you," Miho took the clipboard from Momo and saw the four columns indicating the composition of the different companies in the Ōarai team.

Headquarters still consists of Anglerfish, Duck, and Rabbit team. Dandelion had been bolstered with 12 tanks, though more than just an extra tank from the last match. Due to losses from the Suvorov raid, two Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks were removed for three more M4 Sherman tanks, for a total composition of eight Saunders tanks and four Chi-Ha-Tan tanks. Sunflower has been weakened to 10 tanks, a decrease of two due to losses among Pravda, losing two of their T-34-85. Sunflower now had four Pravda tanks, five St. Gloriana tanks, and Leopon team. Jasmine team has been mostly untouched with Anzio, Continuation, and the rest of Ōarai. In vehicles not lost, there were still single personnel loss, such as Taekeko from Hippo and Noriko from Duck. Miho hoped that crew was still alright, Noriko had been the driving brain behind the Type 89's operation...outside of shouting "guts."

"So here's the current companies," Miho said, relaying the information to the captains.

"It's mostly unchanged, we should be able to work fine!" Kay shouted.

"You think we can do our best?" Miho asked the team.

"Of course!"

"Definitely."

"Hai!"

"Alright then," Miho leaned in on the table. "Here's the current plan. The whole zone outside of this town here is bocage territory."

Bocage, a troublesome terrain for tanks to operate in. Without specialized foliage cutters, the tanks would be restricted by the natural barriers to stick onto the dirt roads. The map shows this, with access to the center of each bocage patch rare. If they had full scale access in and around the bocage, a full exploitation of the tank's mobility on the open fields would be possible.

Miho poked at the center town. "So we're going to aim straight for the town. Both ways, if we can maintain the positions, we will be the defenders. We will force Suvorov to attack while we pick them off. Sunflower, Jasmine, and I will get into the town and set up fortifications. Sunflower, use your heavy armor to attract the enemy towards the center area while Jasmine take up positions in the town and support Sunflower in annihilating the enemy."

Darjeeling put down her tea. "Understood Miho."

"Alriiight!" Anzu swayed left and right on her seat.

"Dandelion, use your speed and occupy the bocage."

"Whoa, wait what? I thought you said it was bocage territory. We're meant to be an exploitation group here," Kay protested.

"I know, but we'll need to have a defensive action in order to have any chance here," Miho said. "Use Dandelion's mobility to get as far into the bocage here. I need you to act as a barrier against Suvorov from making a maneuver on our South flank. If they can't go through, they'll have to go straight through the town into Sunflower and Jasmine. Think you can do that?" Miho gestured to Kay, awaiting a response.

Kay clicked her tongue. "I dunno Miho. I mean, we're the biggest tank group now, but our firepower is still 76 mm level. Plus and, no offense Nishi, we still have the 1930 tank designs in our group, they're cheese to these tanks we're expected to go against."

"If Anzu with a 37 mm can knock out two T-34 tanks at night, I think Nishi and you can make it work, Kay," Miho said. "I need you to do your best, you're the only group that can."

Kay looked at Miho, then back at map. She sighed as she hanged her arms behind her head with a grin. "Alright then, you can count on me!"

Miho took a look on the other captains. Darjeeling, Katyusha, Anchovy, Nishi, and Mika. "We all can do our best right?" Miho asked. "We're going to win this round, is that right?"

The captains looked at each other strangely. "I don't see how we're not. There's nothing stopping us from giving our all in the match," Mika said as she performed staccato on her kantele.

"Yeah, nothing stopping us from giving our all towards the enemy!"

"No charging please!" Katyusha told the excited Nishi. Who looked at her bashfully.

"Pasta!"

"Please girls, I-" Miho wanted to plead more, but she worried it would give too much away. "Let's just do our best now, alright? This battle is not too unlike the ones Ōarai had to do against you in the nationals. We might be outnumbered by six tanks, but we can still win this match. We do that, we can enter the finals! Are we all in?"

"Aye!"

"Alright then," Miho felt a little better with this reassurance. "Mount up in the tanks, relay this information with the team, and I'll see you at the finish line!"

The team captains soon got up, Miho handing the clipboard to Momo as she left and Miho folded the field map into its small rectangle and fitted it in her pocket. Mika stayed as the girls left, continuing to play like a street musician now.

"Miho, a word?" Miho turned and found Darjeeling behind her.

"Hmm? What is it, Darjeeling?" Miho asked.

"Are you feeling unwell?"

"Huh? No, I'm fine…"

"Excuse me then, but you seem...ill today. You don't seem yourself."

"Oh? No, I'm quite alright Darjeeling…"

"A single troubled mind can ruin the cohesion of a colony," Mika said as she finished up with a clear pluck. "Usually ants"

"...Huh?" Miho asked, but Mika was already packing up.

"Did you know this, Miho?" Darjeeling asked as she readjusted her attention. Darjeeling was dipping her tea bag in her cup on the saucer. "How to make the perfect cup of tea?"

"Uhh," Miho wondered where this was going. "Not really, honestly…"

"You need to give the tea oxygen, so it can draw out its flavor," Darjeeling held her cup as she wafed it in the air. Then she mimicked the pouring of a teapot, "Get water not too hot or too cold to draw out the most flavor from the tea." Finally, she started dipping the tea bag up and down from the water, "When the tea starts infusing with the water, you need it in the right concentration, the equilibrium. Too little, and the tea would be too little to have any real effect on the water. Too much, and your tea would be bitter; you can't get the pure taste of the leaves into your lips."

Miho listened, "Uh, I see. But…"

"Of course, if it is too bitter…" Darjeeling said as her left hand reached for a pocket in her blouse. She pulled out a small packet of sugar, the kind from a coffee shop, "You can use sugar to mask the taste. But… even if it alleviates the bitterness the tea, you can always taste that something is off, impure from the original template stained from the extra concentration."

"That's...interesting," Miho confessed. "But… what are you trying to say?"

"Well Miho, when you have a lot of your plate," Darjeeling gestured to her saucer with the tea cup, then placed the sugar packet on it. "You might start finding yourself working to the bone. You can't come back from a ruined cup of tea, you have to start anew."

Miho tried to interpret Darjeeling's cryptic analogy. "I, I think I see what you're saying, Darjeeling."

"I see. Do you wish to talk about it?" Darjeeling asked as she leaned onto the round table.

Miho wondered if she should… but what could Darjeeling do about it? It would just burden her with a business outside of her involvement. "No, I'm fine."

Darjeeling lightly adjusted the cup on her saucer. "I see… well remember Miho Nishizumi. You can have a light tea and have an unpleasant experience, but a heavy tea would only leave a terrible aftertaste." Darjeeling said as she passed Miho out of the tent. "By the way, we never decided on a operation name. I suppose you have any idea?"

"No, I didn't think about it..." Miho quickly said.

"Funny, you always seem to have names for these," Darjeeling said as she lingered at the exit. "I hope you have your priorities straight."

She then left the tent. Miho, left alone, gripped her hands into a fist. "I just have to win…"

* * *

 **Match theater, France**

"Here's a good seat," Daniel said, pointing to the row of bleachers. The huge rows of seats outside faced a large Tankery screen. To beat the sun, a large cover has been erected over most of the top.

"I suppose," Isabelle commented as Daniel made his way inside on his own power, broken leg be damned.

"C'mon chap, you got it," John said as Daniel scooted in. Emma was behind him, still massaging her head around the temple area.

"Ah, there we go! Perfect view!" Daniel said.

"Yes, right there. Now c'mon, you now Isabelle," John beckoned Isabelle. Wouldn't want me to block you from sitting next to your beloved. That would be rude of me."

"I'm sorry, did you just-?" Isabelle said as John quickly gestured and got around her.

"Good, absolutely good. Top notch," John finished as he got between Emma and Isabelle. "Not you, we still got stuff to talk." Emma eyes grew with concern.

"I'm amazed at the amount of space, usually they'd be crowded," Isabelle said as she scooted next to Daniel.

"There's probably be more from the locals, but Dianne is still in the game so she's probably still with her team training for her upcoming match," Daniel said.

"She shouldn't bother, to be honest…" A deep voice, accented English, said as someone new sat next to the American. Isabelle's caution grew as Daniel turned to meet his new neighbors. "I see you're still on crutches, Daniel; after such a defeat from those girls, it must be humiliating trying to walk around like that."

"Hello Alex," Daniel said back, meeting his eyes as Isabelle's glare towards him grew and grew. "A whole year and I still see you're still an ass."

Alex Kraus smiled. He was wearing a black uniform not too unlike that he wore in Canada, albeit the removal of the greatcoat for the cold weather. Free from that winter coat, it revealed a rather formal-looking utility uniform underneath, distinctively made of wool and the jacket folded in a double-breast configuration. The large collars stuck out forwards, with the large area pinned with the logo of Carius Academy. The logo was a depiction of a Tiger I tank rolling over what appears to be rubble, but the background rectangle was that of the German national flag of black, red, and gold. His trousers followed the same black coloration with tapered legs, giving it a bloused shape. Underneath his jacket was a simple grey-colored shirt. A black leather belt strapped across the trouser, with a small, brown leather holster for whatever he holds in it. This was topped off with his black-banded Schirmmütze peaked cap on the academy's uniform to give him the status of the commander of Carius Academy. The dark colors throughout his body seemed to blend everything together like a black spot, only his skin provided a vibrant color to contrast against the dimmed aura.

Hans Wittman sat down next to Kraus. Hans had a similar uniform, with an exception of a black M43 field cap instead of Kraus' more fancier one. Unlike Kraus' brunette hair, Wittman's cream white hair greatly contrasted against the black uniform, each strand visible flowing under the black cap. As he sat down, a loud clunk on the metal seats was heard from his belt. On adjusting it, he reveals a larger leather holster set-up as a cross-draw on his left side, extending from that was a rather intimidating pistol grip that had a near 90 degree bend as it came from the main body to the end. Once fully seated, he took off his cap, which has the Carius logo adorned in the front center, and rested it on his lap. He then stared silently towards the recipient of Kraus' snark.

"What brings you and your...friend, to this viewing?" Daniel asked. "Surely, you're so confident you don't need this don't you?"

"Hmph, Dianne is predictable. As long as she continue to field those outdated tanks, she is no match for me. Our little… 'friend' here, Miho Nishizumi, she has proven quite remarkable for us. Having her deal with our nemesis would be a great way to gauge her skills with ours for our final bout."

"Hmm…" Daniel said. "Well then, from what you can see on the current scoreboard, what would you say?"

"I like to keep my opinions to myself," Alex coldly spoke. Daniel rolled his eyes on that note. "But… I do say that she will lose from a glance of this."

"Yeah…" Daniel said honestly. "Isabelle, dear? Would you like to give your input?"

"Daniel I-...grrr. Fine, uh. Miho and her team against Suvorov…" Isabelle did some mental calculating in her head, her lips contorted as she went through her thoughts. She then shrugged. "I-I… I dunno. Looking at it here and what I've seen… I'm gonna be perfectly honest, I don't think Miho can carry the day this time."

"Interesting…" Alex said, smiling as he believe in his assessment.

"I think she'll win!" Emma screamed across the people towards the conversation. She then quickly got up, then walked across the upper seats towards the space between Alex and Daniel, with their eyes looking at her. "She's gonna beat Suvorov here and there. I'm sure of it."

"Oh…'Puma'..." Alex said in a condescending voice. "Never change, you optimistic girl."

Having made her message, Emma huffed and returned back to her seat near John.

"I simply cannot see that as of now. Ms. Nishizumi simply does not have the experience to deal with Suvorov."

"Right…" Daniel said, begrudgingly agreeing with the German commander. "We all got our tactics refined over the years to be the kinds that we are. "Me, exploitation with fire-and-maneuver. John, speed and power. You, Alex, hard and raw long-range power."

Alex finished up, "And Suvorov...combined arms."

* * *

 **Match zone, France**

The sun now raised high in the sky, the high-point of the morning hours as it closed in to noon. At the predestined time, 15 minutes before match time, the signal went out.

"Ready up, girls!"

Some girls went. The peaceful shore of the French farmlands in this region was rudely awakened by grumbles of 34 tank engines in Ōarai Compound Team. The companies arranged to their prime directions from the start zone, they prepared their tanks for movement.

Miho's own Panzer IV was no exception. Mako started up the Maybach engine and the Panzer IV rumbled in a whirr, the vibrations rattling the girls and amplifying the noise through the disturbed ears.

"Yukari, load AP," Miho said through the crew comms. Yukari quickly complied as she reached for a rack and pumped in a long 75 mm round.

Miho switched to the radio. "Mic check company, this is Anglerfish, do you read?"

" _R-rabbit here! Loud and clear!_ " Azusa said through her radio.

Silence came from Duck team.

Miho reached out again, "Duck team? You there?"

A noise soon came, sounding like someone fumbling with a mic, before Taeko's voice sounded. " _Ah! Yes! Here! Sorry! We didn't receive earlier!"_

"Right, stay in touch," Miho said. _They must be down without Noriko…_ She thought as she switched the comms channel to the entire team. "Company leaders, this is HQ. Comms check, over!"

She let go of her mic and let the responses come in.

" _Dandelion here, check!"_

" _Sunflower here, comms clear."_

" _Jasmine here, ready to roll!_ "

Miho sighed in relief. Everyone was good. If everyone followed the plan against Suvorov's tanks, they should be good.

Now they just have to wait for the referee signal for the match.

Miho stared out to the horizon. She could see the start of the bocages on her right. They rose like a corn maze, high enough to block any view once tanks enter the dirt road. On her left, a clearer road presents itself that is relatively uninterrupted in its travel towards the town. The control of the town now came to whoever can control it first.

On the other side of these terrain, Miho was sure her opposer was there. Erik Katukov, what sort of man was he? Yukari's description as their commander did not give him much detail to explain what he expects from his own troops. Actually, now that she thought about it, the man did not take the time to even come over for her, unlike the other team members. Why was that? A sign of snobbiness? There was too much around for her to know about one thing except for one: she has to win.

Miho's leg shaked as she waited for the battle. Yukari and Hana, inside the turret, saw Miho's leg fidget as her knees went up and down. They looked at each other, with a mutual understanding that something was off in Miho's mind. But Miho was the commander of the team, they can only hope that whatever was in her mind, it wasn't inhibiting and she doesn't loser her head over it.

Finally, as the minute hand clicks closer to its mark. Miho watched for the signal. A _BOOMF_ sounded and a single flare flew over the match zone, its sparks bright enough to be seen in the daylight with an accompanying _SHRIEEEK_ so that it couldn't be missed even if it was invisible. Then it went off like a firework... _POOFM_.

Miho gripped her mic, "Panzer vor!"

* * *

 ***Cue readers going "Finally! Suvorov battle!"***

 **Yep, got this done before my finals week too (Summer classes).**

 **With the new GuP animated films coming out, my initial goal was to see if I can finish this story before the first film comes out so my canonicity does not get totally derailed, like for example the future student council. My goal still stands, but my time is running shorter and shorter so if I don't make it, oh well. The story definitely has been going a lot longer and detailed than what I was thinking about last year, although I'm glad that the whole foundation has been mostly unaltered with small adjustments in physical characteristics and relationships.**

 **For example, Emma originally had coffee-brown hair in the first draft and she was to act in a secretary-like personality of dedicated seriousness, but with timidity. However, I also had Isabelle, who was not the typical genki American girl like Kay, instead was brunette and had a serious personality. I found these two girl's personality too similar, but want to twist things from the American stereotype, so I made Emma the genki, aggressive one and gave her a hair color with codominance expression with her blend of blonde and brown hair.**

 **Also, originally the battle between Montgomery and Miho in the tournament was on a Pacific island. However, it didn't make sense geographically, especially since the final battles would take place in Europe, and the Pacific was nearly on the other side of the world with a whole bunch of landmasses in the way. This is why I picked Canada's east coast so it was in the path to Europe, yet not too far for a trip back.**

 **Finally, originally Erik Katukov's name was Komanov (just a randomly picked name) before I read about Mikhail Katukov and realized the last names had similar syllables, but an added bonus is that I can make some semblance to a legacy in Russia to emphasize their dedication to the sport, kind of like the Nishizumi's legacy in the ages to their dedication to their sports.**

 **Anyways, been doing more research on tanks still, hanging around reddit, etc. I'm just glad I have this story as a creative output for my knowledge, because only Girls Und Panzer can provide a complete focus on tanks with a tinge of drama.**

 **Also I don't claim to be a tea expert. :D**

 **Thanks for reading this far! We've hit combat now, so if you want to stay updated on the start of the fighting, Follow and Favorite this story so the FFN algorithms can send you the notification once I'm done! I'll see you all next time!**

 **Update (9/12): Forgot to mention operation name! Twisted that into a plot point!**

 **Update (9/14): Added some description of uniforms because I had the time and felt like I really need to give Carius Academy a solid tanker uniform template before I divert again.**


	25. Iron Fist

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 25: Iron Fist**

 **West side of town, France**

The tanks moved forward, riding along the road to make the most speed in their movement.

"As we planned," Miho said through the radio. "Dandelion, take to the bocage and cover that sector! Jasmine, watched the south road of the town! Sunflower and I will take the town!"

" _Riiight!_ " Anzu replied.

" _Oh-kay!_ " Kay said enthusiastically.

On the first intersection, the path for each company was set. Dandelion took the direction south to the bocage field. Jasmine, Sunflower, and Miho's headquarter group moved on to the town. Upon the next intersection, Jasmine company split off to the right path towards the southern border road curving the town's semi-circle perimeter, extending from the coast.

"Darjeeling, send Rosehip ahead to recon the town, see if the enemy is present." Miho said.

" _Understood_ ," Darjeeling said, taking in the order.

A moment later, the three Cromwell with Rosehip propelled themselves forwards ahead of the tanks, the meteor engine rumbling at a higher rate as the Cromwells sped towards the town on the road.

" _You know, I bet my T-34s can make it at the same time!"_ Katyusha yelled through her radio, referring to the two T-34-85 currently in her command, the one she's riding and Klara's. Their tanks trailed in front of the IS-2 and KV-2.

"No Katyusha. We need to conserve your force. The T-34-85's guns are quite an asset to maintain now against Suvorov."

" _Rrgghh… fine!_ " Katyusha said in a huff.

The Pravda platoon, a fragment of its usual self, was maintaining speed behind St. Gloriana's Black Prince and Churchill . Miho's headquarter group of the Panzer IV, M3 Lee, and the Type 89 was in the middle with Leopon's Tiger (P) in front leading the way. The turrets on each tank angled in various directions to watch all possible sectors while moving.

Soon, the vectors of attack shrink to forward and the rear. Entering the town, the buildings engulfed the surrounding from the south fields of hedgerow and the north seawall towards the coast into a restricted urban landscape. Buildings up to three stories cover their view of the distance, with only the roads showing the way through these man-made structures.

" _Miho, Rosehip's platoon has made it to the town, they haven't found the enemy yet, but they'll stay posted until our arrival."_

"Understood Darjeeling," Miho replied.

The road continued to crack under the tank's weight and metal tracks. The vibrations from this contact was mitigated by the rubber wheels on the tanks. This luxury was not enjoyed by the heavy tanks with their steel wheels. Duck team in the Type 89 also did not have this novel feature either.

As they drove down the buildings, they passed through intersections as the northern road branched into the town interiors.

"Katyusha," Miho started, skimming the map. "split off and head down to the right, meet up in the plaza. Stay in touch on the comms."

" _Alright!"_ Katyusha replied and the last four tanks of the column broke off to the right. Rukuriri's Churchill turret traversed to watch towards her rear.

" _Rosehip reported in, the town is clear,"_ Darjeeling reported.

"Clear? No enemies at all around?" Miho asked for confirmation.

" _No enemies sighted near or around the town,"_ Darjeeling confirmed.

Miho was surprised by that news. The lack of any firefight at the moment confirmed this so far. She got back on the radio. "Jasmine, this is Miho. Anything on the south side there?"

" _Oi Miho_ ," Anzu replied. " _Nothing here, everything's clean_."

"Nothing? Alright then. What's your position?"

" _We're partway through the halfway point at grid B3. Passing by an intersection soon."_

"Roger that. Keep an eye out, Pravda is moving in the town roads inside. Don't confuse them with Suvorov tanks please!"

" _Okay! We'll keep an eye out for their school symbol!"_

"Keep in touch," Miho said, thinking about the information so far. "Nothing on our east or south side of the town yet…"

"That's good news, right?" Saori asked.

"Yeah… I hope," Miho said cautiously. She went to the radio again, "Kay, how is it for you?"

Kay took a moment to reply back, " _Nothing so far! There's a whole lot of darn roads and stuff! We're trying to spread out to that souther- driver turn left here. Southern straight road to maximize our mobility through the bocage. Driver, turn right here."_

"I understand. Let me know if there are any changes to your situation."

" _Roger that!"_

" _Miho, we're approaching the town plaza."_ Satoko from Leopon stated through the radio. Miho looked ahead past Duck team in front to Leopon, who began to break through the surrounding structures to an open space.

The town plaza was a huge wide space in the core of the semi-circle town. As the hub of the town, the area stretched out, connecting the major roads in the town that then connected to the smaller streets like a spider web. The arena looked like a fine social area, with delicate garden and greenery meticulously placed around the area like that of a mall gathering area. The sight of a farmer's market busy at work with tents erected in the space could be envisioned, with parties and children running about. In the top center of the plaza was a large church, its wooden doors towards the south was wide enough to fit vehicles and astounding size and structure exhibiting more thought and investment put into it than a simple "mock-up."

This exciting atmosphere was trampled over the sound of the approaching tanks. This plaza was no longer and never was the social gathering it could become, but an arena between the two warring teams. Miho's convoy past the last edges of the building structure before hitting the open space.

"Mako, try not to destroy anything yet," Miho said, swerving the tanks around the delicate structures and pedestals showing off the greens. The team passed a white obelisk structure peaking at the north of the church, bordering along the northern main road that they traveled from the west

" _Miho-sha, turning into the plaza now,"_ Katyusha stated. Miho looked towards the southwest road and saw Katyusha's T-34-85 starting to turn towards the area, with her team trailing behind; Klara's T-34-85!pointed away out towards the exit route of the road.

"Wow! we can see everything from here!" Azusa shouted from her M3 Lee cupola. Indeed it must be for the case of the extra tall M3 Lee profile, she could get a better view than the other commanders.

"In that case, Azusa keep a look out from here," Miho said.

"Ah! There's Rosehip!" She soon exclaimed. Rosehip Cromwell platoon approached from the southeast direction by one of the main roads from in and out the town. The direct, wide road led straight to the first hedgerows of the bocage.

Rosehip approached recklessly fast. Though watching out for the larger gardens in the area, a few lone pedestal vases were knocked over by the Cromwells as they made the various turns towards Miho and co.

"Alls clear all-around!" Rosehip exclaimed. "No one's here!"

"Nothing around where we were either. Looks like we secured the town!" Katyusha shouted as her tank rolled up to Miho's. "We've got the initiative!"

"R-right," Miho agreed, but it didn't feel right. No signs of Suvorov anywhere? "Well, let's carry out the plan then. Darjeeling and Katyusha, set up those defensive strongholds."

The two school commanders replied with their understanding, then they were off. Pravda's four tanks went towards the southeast path while St. gloriana went to the northwest road. The two school's respective medium tanks sped off ahead of the heavies.

"Leopon, position yourself here in the center and support Pravda from the rear."

" _Affirmative!_ " Satoko replied. The Tiger (P) inched forwards towards Pravda's side. She picked a strategic spot behind some shrubbery from a garden; ensuring that only the 88 mm gun was extending past towards the direction.

"What about us?" Taeko said from the Type 89.

"You and Rabbit stick with me. We'll stay in standby depending on Suvorov's next move. We'll ride it out from here."

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

Kay looked closely at the map as the M4 Shermans maneuvered through the bocage. Like a corn maze, the bocage's height prevents the usage of landmarks for accurate positioning, leaving only Kay's map to see where they are in the huge mess, much to her frustration.

The problems with the bocage field was not only that they restricted the tank's movement to the roads that the hedgerows grow out into, but that the huge hedgerow prevents an easy observation of the overall situation. A tank going down a road will only be able to see what's in front of them since the bocage on both sides leave only a focused view on the front. The dense hedgerows leave an inability to view the sides or even across intersections, creating a literal line-of-sight perspective.

Not to mention the roads were skinny. Some roads were small enough that a tank cannot turn, only reverse to withdraw. This was especially problematic with the M4 Sherman's turning radius due to its inability to neutral steer, prohibiting the same level of movement in any other terrain.

Sunflower company had split into platoons of four tanks to maneuver through the hedgerow; two Saunder platoon and one Chi-Ha-Tank Platoon. Kay couldn't see much use of the Chi-Ha-Tan tanks except for recon or even as meatshields, but she wasn't going to be blunt of their expendability. Besides, letting them work together would be better than forming mixed platoons from both school. Doctrines might contrast and it wouldn't end well for unit cohesion.

Kay had Chi-Ha-Tan move up north in the bocages closer to the town, where they could easily withdraw to if the worst was to come. The two Saunder platoons meanwhile maneuvered farther south.

Kay's platoon, made up of two M4A3E2 along with Alisa's and Naomi's tanks, were heading south on a turn around a hedgerow-bordered field. _If we can cut through these fields, this would've been much easier…_ Kay griped, all the possible paths for the tank were being overridden by the hedgerows. It was frustrating, wasn't the tank suppose to go all over land? Yet they are stopped by five meter tall hedgerows.

"Left turn here, Alisa," Kay said as she looked at the map. The upcoming turn would put them on a road that was nearly a straight path cutting across the entire field to the east side, giving them a leverage over the enemy as a path to exploit from.

Alisa's M4A1 (76) W Sherman started its turn across the corner. Then the tank froze in place.

"What's wrong?" Kay asked before Alisa from her cupola frantically waved and scream.

"TURN BACK!" She shouted loud. Her M4A1 Sherman was reversing at full speed. Kay couldn't respond quick enough and her M4A1 crashed right into her M4A3E2.

"Agh!" The inertia threw Kay off-balance. "Alisa, what the fu-"

An indescribably deafening sound blasted in the air, but what Kay felt was a heavy shockwave coming into her face as a flash of light erupted meters from their position. When the light cleared, she found herself inside the M4A3E2 on the commander's seat. Her crew members were shouting at her face. No...were they shouting? Kay couldn't tell. Everything was ringing in her ears.

"hey…" Kay heard from the mouth of her loader to her left. The siren in her head started to die down. She shook her head, feeling the dizziness in her head shake out as she forced herself back up from the cupola. Outside, the green light singed with orange as she saw the damage that was done.

A large crater had formed alongside the bocage corner. It had a deep impression into the ground. The blast and shockwave of the caliber had even singe the green leaves of the nearby hedgerow. Kay looked at the M4A1 (76) W that was immobile in front of her.

"Alisa…" Kay could feel herself talking, though the hearing was still fuzzy. She drew in a breath. "Alisa!"

Silence for a few seconds before the M4A1 cupola opened, and a similarly dazed Alisa stumbled up.

"What was that?!" Kay asked towards Alisa, the only one who saw the horror that did this destruction. The

Alisa looked back at Kay's eyes and screamed out of her lungs, "ASSAULT GUN! THEY'VE GOT ONE OVERLOOKING THIS WHOLE ROAD HERE!"

Kay looked out and quickly made some hand motions. "He must be reloading! Advance quickly and make some distance there!"

"Roger!" Alisa, despite her shakiness, complied as she ordered her M4A1 (76) W forwards back into the fray. She made a similar distance past the corner, before her eyes widened again, and the M4A1 quickly reversed back into position. Then came a heavy super-sonic wave that passes through the same road that Alisa exposed her tank at. Unlike the previous shot, this shell cracked past the girls and tore through the bocage and across to the ground, landing with a heavy _POOMF_.

 _An armor-piercing shot?_ Kay thought, but shifted her attention to Alisa. "Alisa, what is it now?!"

"There's another one!" Alisa shouted. "They're alternating their shots as they reload!"

Kay looked back at the devastated corner they tried turning to. With two assault guns on the other side, there was no way she could take the platoon through this road without unacceptable casualties. She reached for her map, luckily still in its position after all the chaos, and glanced at her marked position for a second. "How far were they?"

Alisa took a quick moment to think, "About 800 meters or more!"

Kay estimated the distance on the map, then marked the area on where the assault guns were suspected to be at. _That's all the way at the corners of the bocage…_ Kay looked at her assigned platoon, they were shaken up by this encounter. Even the thick armor of the M4A3E2 wouldn't stand up to the Russian assault guns. She then folded up the paper. "We'll find a detour around this section. Let the others know to watch out for long strips of roads. The Russians has set up heavy artillery on the other side!"

The tanks reversed out of that situation as Kay plotted a new path. Shots broke out on a fair distance away to their north, hidden due to the bocage. Kay estimated the area and grabbed her radio. "Hey, Carrie! What's your status?"

" _We've encountered enemy light tanks! Tiny rascals! T-70 lights!"_

"I can hear that, we'll try to get over to the south side and get around them!" Kay replied, doing hand signals to the rest of her platoon urging them forwards. "Driver, move forwards!" Kay's M4A3E2 moved forwards as the platoon followed. The firefight moved as the cannon fire sound sources kept relocating. "Nishi, you copy?"

" _Oh! Kay!"_ Kinuyo Nishi spoke through.

"I need you to maneuver around and box off the enemy Carrie is engaging!"

" _Roger that! We'll move in an-"_ Nishi was interrupted from a blast.

"What's going on?" Kay asked.

" _We've encountered some enemy tanks! Heavy tanks! Agh! Excuse me, they're huge!"_

 _Tanks up north?_ Kay thought as Nishi's situation went in."Try to hold them off and bring them towards us! We'll deal with thes-"

 _*WEOW-KLANG!*_

A shot flew right onto Kay's tank glacis and bounced up. Kay quickly ducked and examined the source. "Contact here as as well! Ah, T-34 tanks! Fire at him!"

The 76 mm cannons in the platoon rang out as they hit the source in the distance. The T-34 had already reversed away before it was targeted.

Naomi was not hindered with the concealment in this environment however. "Excuse me, captain," she briefly said as she brought the Sherman Firefly's 17-pounder gun to bear. The muzzle brake traversed that it was next to another turret, aiming towards the hedgerow to the left. Kay quickly got to cover in her cupola.

 _*BOOM!*_

The 17-pounder's muzzle blast was impressive as is, but more so right next to it with the six inch armor plate of the M4A3E2 turret side to cover from the blast waves. Naomi's round zipped into the hedgerows, the foliage unable to drastically hinder the 17 lb. shell from making its aimed trajectory to the target. It positively made a hit beyond the hedgerow, with a confirmed sight unneeded to determine a kill was made.

Kay cautiously came back up, feeling the heat on the turret from the blast as it laid traces of soot around the M4A3E2 left side. "Good shot," Kay praised, impressed as always with Naomi's skilled aims. "Enemy up front! Pursue them and keep up the pressure! This whole situation is a lot hairer here than I thought!"

" _With due respect! We've all got long hair!"_ Nishi nonsensically said.

"That's not what I meant!"

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, outside perimeter, France**

Three hundred meters was the drop-off point.

The diesel-powered T-34 tanks of 76 and 85 mm caliber rolled through the dirt road towards the town. Their movement followed with a distinctive noise from the tracks; the bumper on the rear slapping the roller pins back into the tracks. Each "slap" as a rod comes across the bumper creates a clacking noise that comes signature with the T-34 tank. A noisy feature, but a necessity to keep the track pin's for the T-34's wide tracks on the Christie suspension in place.

These T-34s were a tad special. Their green paint and construction made them indistinguishable from the usual tanks, but the markings signified their new "special purpose" role. The cryptic mark was only that of a blue diamond painted on the turret sides. To conceal their special nature, they were still referred to as the 3rd company, though anyone looking at unit composition would find its homogeneous structure of T-34 tanks strange compared to the other combined-arms companies.

As the T-34 drove closer, the T-34s drove more cautiously, at a slower rate to reduce the noise profile. Each platoon within the company had a designated deployment area for their packages. Finally, Platoon A was given the halt order from their commander, and the three tanks stopped on a dirt road, with a large hedgerow separating them from a line-of-sight to the town. T-34 number 322, a T-34/76 mod. 1943 tank, halted as the driver, Mel, lurched up the brakes as hard as he could, then set the gear to parking. He then turned over to his bow machine gun passenger, Vist.

"Well, I suppose this is your stop," He said to his comrade.

"Indeed," Vist said, "now if you'll excuse me."

Mel looked forward and opened up the front driver hatch on the hull. After locking it in place, he then rolled out of the front hatch head first as part of the training. As soon as Mel left the hull, Vist followed through the larger and more manageable driver's hatch, especially compared to his only other escape method through the belly hatch. He climbed out relatively quickly after a lot of banging and hits on the other components of the T-34, something never ironed out despite all the training here. Mel laughed as she nearly slipped out of the hatch.

"Ha ha, very funny," Vist said as he walked over to the left hull of the T-34 tank. There was a few curious note on the hull side, notwithstanding the large tool box on the front part of the fenders. There was also the horn that the driver could use and the sheath for a large saw the crew could use to cut down timber if needed. Large handles line up the T-34 side for use by desant troops, a vestigial feature from the wartime blueprints of the tank. On the rear laid external fuel tanks for the T-34, greatly improving the operational range. Spare track links were laid out in scattered fashion on the fender.

However, an additional luggage of a large metallic tube was strapped onto the side fender with leather belts. It was a very simple design by the looks of it, one that could be mistaken as a pipe to an untrained eye, or maybe it would if it wasn't for the stock and pistol grip. Vist unstrapped this device from the tank and lifted it.

"Man, you're amazing y'know?" Mel watched as Vist set it up. As Vist did, the other crew members on the other T-34 were doing the same outside the tank. "I couldn't carry that thing as far as you did."

"Well, it's not fun, so you're not missing much," Vist said. He then added his finishing touch to the device, a metal bolt that he slips right into the hollow chamber. The piece fit like a puzzle, which he ensured by racking it once. Mel grabbed him a box of ammunition from the tool box, giving 20 rounds for this weapon. Vist quickly grabbed one of the large rounds and slipped it into the device, closing the bolt in and activating the safety. As he finished, so did the others, and they prepared to leave for their special missions.

"Hey, take care alright?" Mel said to Vist. "I don't wanna hear you got ran over by a tank later."

"Don't worry about it," Vist said as he hoisted the large weapon to rest from his palm against his shoulder. "Any tank try to do that, I'll shoot the bitch."

Vist gave a grin and he walked off on the dirt path towards the west, their destination unknown to all except themselves.

"Hey Mel! Get back in the tank!" His tank commander Pavel cried out.

"Yes sir!" Mel quickly dived back into the tank.

Across the eastern side, two other platoons of T-34 distributed their troops out into the wilderness, carrying their special weapons from the T-34.

One T-34 from the first platoon of the special company had a different package from the rest though.

"We're here sir," Kirill, driver of T-34-85 tank number 311 said as he looked at his passenger. He stirred from his seat as he checked his weapon, a suppressed Nagant revolver, in his hand. Following the procedure, Kirill climbed out first before this man followed.

"Here Yashin," Kirill took out the 7.62x54mmR ammunition clips from the toolbox. Yashin picked them up as he walked around to a weapon strapped to the side of the T-34-85. A Mosin-Nagant M91/30 rifle with a curved bolt. Taking it, Yashin took a scope out of his pocket and slipped it on the rifle, the PU scope and rifle mated together like butter and bread. Yashin loaded the 7.62 mm rounds individually into the rifle, then locked it bolt shut. To complete his armory, Yashin picked up a PPSh-41 submachine gun that was placed next to the Mosin. Clacking the bolt open, he was ready faster than the others in preparing for their missions.

"Wish me luck," Yashin said to Kirill. Kirill only nodded as Yashin made a dash to his destination.

Eleven men total were delivered from the ten T-34 tanks in the special company. The company commander got on to the radio once the drop off was complete. "All tanks, prepare to advance!"

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

The southeast path in the town remained quiet as Katyusha pointed the 85 mm ZiS-S-53 gun downrange. Katyusha's T-34-85 peeked out of a right branching road alongside the main one, letting the building provide cover for the majority of her tank hull. All that was exposed was the front hull angled in a diagonal fashion and with the turret aligned out for a good angle of fire down the road. Klara's tank waited on the other side, slightly behind Katyusha's position, the two tanks able to cover each other and their blind spots.

Behind the two medium tanks laid the IS-2 and KV-2, in a similar position as Katyusha and Klara in the intersections leading to the town's smaller roads. They pointed their large caliber weapons down range. Finally, covering Pravda's entire rear was Leopon with their 88 mm.

So far, no enemy has been in sight, a curious situation. Were the enemies preferring the bocage fighting? That was the only other area possible in this landscape, right into Dandelion's force. Though individually they seemed small, Jasmine company was down there ready to support if necessary.

Katyusha tapped her finger along the T-34's cupola as the gunner kept her eyes through the periscope on the zone. Katyusha looked across the street at Klara, also looking down the street. The whole situation has become more tense since that so-called deal between Miho and Suvorov. No, it was more than about the situation of Kuromorimine, it was about her big sister. For such an emotional stake, Suvorov was having a field day tugging that string like a game. She doesn't know much about this "Erik Katukov", but he must have such a welcoming and charming personality to stoop like that. What was he getting out of this, some kicks?

Nevertheless, the effect this has on Miho was astounding. Miho almost felt like a different person. She was...assertive. Katyusha didn't think she was bad-mouthing Miho though, she always seemed to lack a spine. But she was quite pushy in her methods, as well as her emphasis for victory. All these different methods, did it translate to her combat thoughts? What is she thinking right now? Katyusha knows Miho wants to win, but if she's blinded by that desire…

"Ms. Katyusha! Movement in front!" Her comms came alive.

"Ah?!" Katyusha snapped out of her though, jerking her head back. She looked at the road and saw a sliver of green metal emerge from the left side of the road, briefly showing its unit marking of a blue diamond. The angular turret of a T-34/76 turned and pointed the gun barrel down range. The ensuing blast crashed into the building past Klara, sending dust everywhere with the crash.

"Contact up front!" Katyusha said through her platoon. Klara's tank quickly reacted with this and the 85 mm fired vigorously. Katyusha traced the shot and saw the enemy tank reversed from the situation while another zoomed past the open.

As Katyusha quickly switch the comms towards Miho, the same tank emerged on the right side for a shot. "Miho! We've got contact on our side!" She quickly shouted. More firing noises spawned in towards her left. Their sector was getting lively.

* * *

 **Town center, inside perimeter, France**

"Roger that!" Miho shouted as she received the message. The Panzer IV adjusted itself as its front armor went towards the southeast, in case of any stray rounds.

" _We've received contact on the east,"_ Darjeeling reported from her position. _"Several T-34 has shown themselves_."

Miho was tracing enemy's movement on the map with her pencil, small thrusts of arrow to show the enemy's movement into the town. "They'll probably try to put pressure on this front here," Miho used the pencil and traced the the perimeter road between the east main ones. "And Kay has been encountering enemy tanks as well down there."

"Are they trying to sweep a broad front?" Yukari pondered.

"I don't know…" Miho said looking at the map. "It's very possible, but the bocage fighting won't be in our favor… with their guns and armor they can try to force Dandelion out."

" _Miho, this is Kay!"_ Kay's shouts came through. _"We're encountering heavy resistance down here. Mediums and heavies!"_

"And there's that…" Miho said as she reached for her radio throat mic, "Kay, do you think you can fight them back?"

" _It's tough to say! We can take care of the smaller fries, but the IS-2 and assault guns are gonna be the real issue!"_

"I'll see if there's anyone I can send. Hey Anzu, are you there?" Miho quickly asked/

" _Yep!"_ Anzu said.

" _It's chaotic around here, what's going on?!"_ Momo shouted during Anzu's transmission.

" _Russians in the bocages!_ " Kay shouted in.

"Sunflower is here in the town fighting their push on our east. Anyone coming down south towards you?"

" _It's all normal here, Miho! Nothing out of the ordinary._ "

"Right then, I need you to send a detachment down towards Dandelion as support. I'll send a few over as well!"

" _Okay then. Hey, Anchovy! Mallard! Anteater! New assignments!"_

Miho looked out towards Rabbit and Duck team idling by. "Hey Azusa, Taeko, I'm sending you down to Kay in the bocage."

"Us?" The two teams asked in unison.

"Yes, their predicament is currently worse than ours, and we need them to be able to resist the attack and force them towards the town. Help them out in whatever ways you can!"

" _R-right!_ " The two girls replied and so the two tanks headed back towards the southwest road towards the destination..

"We'll hold our positions here," Miho said adamantly as the Panzer IV stood firm.

"It seems strange," Saori commented. "For 40 tanks, Suvorov doesn't seem they're making the most of their numbers now, are they?"

"Yeah… instead it looks like they splitted up to attack both fronts…" Yukari eyed the map closely.

"They probably think they could try to breakthrough against us," Miho thought. "We can hold the town here, but Kay will need a lot of tactical flexibility to out-maneuver them down there."

"Can we really win like this in a battle of attrition?" Hana asked.

"Until we find out where their command tank is, this is all we can do until he decides to show himself."

* * *

 **East side of town, inside perimeter, France**

five tanks traded shots with the T-34 tanks on the northeast end. Suvorov's T-34 played conservatively, only exposing itself for a few seconds to fire before withdrawing. A few of their shots hit, or were even aimed, but St. Gloriana 75 mm in the Cromwell and Churchill lacked the general firepower needed. The only saving grace was the 17-pounder in the Black Prince, but even that couldn't hit 100%.

" _Hit! But it didn't go through…_ " Cranberry said in her Cromwell across the street from Rosehip, the 75 mm making contact with the T-34, but sliding off the front glacis.

" _We just have to get closer!"_ Vanilla said behind Rosehip's Cromwell.

Rosehip held her tea cup as steady as she could as the two sides fired at each other. A round blasted through the building meters above the Cromwell's turret, breaking right through and scattering debris around.

"How dusty…" Rosehip said as she saw the particles scatter around in her vision periscope.

" _We'll just be wasting our ammunition if we stay here,"_ Cranberry said.

" _What should we do, Rosehip?"_ Vanilla asked. Rosehip looked through her periscope and saw the same T-34 pop out on the right building corner, fired a shot, then retreated before the shot landed.

"They're not even bothering to aim…" Rosehip curiously noted. "It's only about 200 meters from here to there…" The fired round landed directly on a second floor of a nearby building, sending debris tumbling to the ground. "Let's gamble!" She said into her radio.

" _Again?!_ " Her teammates cried out on Rosehip's usual strategy. Her tank crew also had the same expression as they look at Rosehip.

" _Rushing ahead of ourselves again, Rosehip?"_ Darjeeling reported from behind, listening to Rosehip's chatter.

"Yeah, we haven't done this in a while!" Rosehip affirmed her status. "Plus, we've got a bigger gun to play with! Requesting permission, Ms. Darjeeling!"

" _Hmm… fortune favors the bold. Alright, move along on your own risk."_

Rosehip had a giddy squee. "Cranberry, Vanilla, follow me on my go! Driver, forwards after the next shot!"

Rosehip could feel her driver manage the clutch, anticipation rose in the interior with the heart beats. A cunning grin sprouted on their faces as they brought back their Crusader spirits into their new mount.

The T-34 brought itself out and fired another haphazard shot.

"Now!"

The Cromwell's Meteor engine roared as rotating rumble vibrated inside. The tank sped forwards at speeds greater than the Crusader as Rosehip made her advance. The enemy didn't even see Rosehip's movement as it already went back to cover.

The distance closed in, hundreds became tens as she closed in for the kill. The T-34 popped out again and hesitated, as though expressing the crew's reaction to this madness. The turret frantically adjusted towards Rosehip's Cromwell.

"Evasive manoeuvres!" Rosehip shouted. The driver lurched on a brake stick lightly and the Cromwell barreled into that direction. The T-34 fired, with the round grazing on the Cromwell's turret. After the shot, the Cromwell continued forward with little impunity. "Turn right!" Rosehip finally said as they closed the intersection. The driver pulled hard on the right stick, braking the right tracks. On the concrete floor, the Cromwell drifted sideways around the corner. The gunner quickly adjusted the turret to the front-right side as the tank slid abruptly. As the kinetic energy was lost, the Christie suspension stabilized itself and the gunner got a clean sight.

"On target!" She shouted.

"Fire!" Rosehip simultaneously shouted and kicked the gunner, while also wiping some spilled tea off her uniform. The 75 mm rocked back and the noise outside signified a solid hit on the T-34. Rosehip looked out and saw the 75 mm shell embedded on the side hull of the T-34. The hexagonal turret had a white flag popped up. She also saw two other T-34 waiting right behind it.

Stunned silence between the two. Rosehip realizing the scenario and the other two T-34, perhaps recovering from the ludicrous scenario Rosehip just presented, started turning their turrets. Rosehip could see one was the same model type as the one she took out, but the other had the larger one holding the 85 mm.

Cranberry and Vanilla came to her rescue as the two skidded out in the open. Cranberry's tank fired as it skidded, the round blasted the building right next to a T-34, letting the rubble and dust coming down onto the turret. Vanilla continued onwards in the chaos. The 85 mm turret swung and shot towards Vanilla's tank. The round hit low and shredded apart Vanilla's suspension, taking off two front wheels and most of the tracks. Vanilla's velocity let the hull traveled far, right past the offending T-34-85 as it screeched to a halt. The power still on and still in the game, Vanilla's turret traversed against the T-34's. Her short gun barrel was brought to bear and shot right into the T-34-85's turret sides. A white flag emerged off the top.

The last remaining T-34 rode out of the dusty environment it was exposed to, only for Cranberry to finish it off with a shot to the side.

The firefight lasted less than a minute, and Rosehip got to the radio when silence resumed. "You ladies alright?"

" _Good here!"_ Cranberry said.

" _My suspension is totaled!"_ Vanilla said.

"Can you fix it?" Rosehip asked.

A pause came as what seemed like Vanilla evaluating her damages. " _Yeah, sure. Why not."_

"We'll help out…" Rosehip said meekly, surmising a hard task ahead.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

"It's not the same without Noriko…" Akebi said as she steadied the 57 mm gun.

"She'll be fine. The doctor said it was light concussion, she should be up in a few days!" Shinobu cheered them up, driving the tank forwards on the dirt into the bocage environment, leading the Jasmine detachment down towards Kay's location. Behind them was Rabbit, Anteater, Anchovy, Pepperoni, and Mallard in that order.

"Even so… the enemies are pretty tough aren't they? I recognized some of them from Pravda…" Taeko, on the cupola, said as she pulled double duty in Noriko's place.

"Hey girls, c'mon," Shinobu tried to raise their spirits. "Noriko wouldn't have left us hanging like this. You'd know what she'd say with these odds?"

The girls looked at each other with a unified expression, understanding their pathos like a club they long to be. "Guts…" Taeko replied.

"That's right!" Shinobu kept it up. "We always go gusto in with the plan!"

"And right now, our Chi-Ha-Tan allies are in trouble!" Akebi shouted, "We altogether manage to fight University to the last tank! We can do it again here!"

"Right!" They said in unison.

"So let's go, and in Noriko words…" Taeko swelled her lungs and Shinobu pumped power into the tank's engine.

"Guts!"

 _*CWACK-PANG!*_

A rattling of metal vibrated throughout the Type 89's interior. The abrupt noise punched through like a hit, but the Type 89 was not thrown about like how a normal tank shell would do to them.

Yet Duck's tank came to a very abrupt stop, the tracks locked shut and the tank was immobile. A very familiar sound of a hatch opened on top, but Duck team was still in chaos.

"What was that?!" Akebi shouted.

"That's a new one!" Shinobu said, confusingly trying to work the power. "Did we throw a track?! A wheel?!"

"I don't know!" Taeko said as she opened the cupola on top. Nothing around them seems out of the ordinary except that they've been stopped. Taeko looked back and saw the problem. The white flag was up.

"Wha-what?!"

"What is it, Taeko?" Akebi asked.

"W-we're out!"

"Huh?!"

"I don't know!" Taeko looked around frantically. A tank? A small tank destroyer? Nothing was around their flanks. There was nothing around, they were surrounded by the tall and dense hedgerows.

The tanks behind had noticed this disruption. Rabbit team right behind saw the popped up white flag and was also desperately watching for enemies, the vision ports on the hull sides opened for a better view. " _Oi! What's going on up there?"_ Pepperoni's voice cried from the radio and down the convoy.

 _*CWACK-PANG!_ _CWACK-PANG!*_

The same sound rang out all around, in two stages. The first was a very familiar crack of a rifle shot, same as the one she remembered back on the carrier against Suvorov. The second… it had an unusual cacophony, but it reminded her of… of a tank shell hitting armor.

As each rifle fire sounded, a spark lit up on the side of the tanks. Taeko saw a spark emerge on Anteater's Chi-Nu tank behind Rabbit. The tank shook a bit, then sputtered. A white flag emerged on top.

Taeko didn't know exactly what was causing the damage, but they were in a danger zone. She brought up the radio voice box, "A-Am-ambush! We got enemies around us and- uh?!" Taeko saw a man running behind the hedgerows, holding something in his arm. Taeko watched the hedgerow area he disappeared into. Another _POOWW_ single shot, and Taeko spotted a large puff of smoke pop out of the sides of the hedgerow on the ground. A closer look, she could see a muzzle brake of a gun, a tiny one.

"Akebi! Traverse left!" Taeko cried out.

"B-but we're out!" Akebi said as she tugged on the manual traverse, but it was disconnected by the referee system.

Taeko got down to the ball machine gun on the Type 89's turret rear. The ball mount allowed her to swing the rear Type 97 machine gun onto the smoked hedges. She fired a burst, the tracers flew downrange and she saw a man got up, picked up his piece on the ground, and run off behind the hedgerows. She tried to trace his path, but the machine gun wouldn't traverse any farther.

"What's going on?!" Shinobu asked Taeko. But Taeko was too busy getting onto the radio.

"How m-many are still in the match?" Taeko asked to her little team.

" _Rabbit, Anchovy, and I!_ " Sodoko cried from the Char B1 bis on the rear of the column. " _Everyone else is out! What's going one?!"_

"We...we were ambushed! By men with rifles!"

" _That's impossible! Gun fire shouldn't take out tanks!_ "

"I know! wait. Fall back to the towm! It's too dangerous to go now!"

As the remnants of Duck's ad-hoc team, one of the men who ran from the ambush took a knee in a safe location in the fields between the bocage. Hidden from the fighting, he operated his weapon.

A PTRD-41 anti-tank rifle, a 38 pound rifle firing a 14.5 mm round that could penetrate up to 40 mm from 100 meters away with a perpendicular shot. The rifle was simple and had no magazine, instead it could hold only one round that had to be reloaded for every shot. Vist racked the bolt and ejected the huge brass case, pocketing it in a special brass pouch for future round reloads. He then took a new round and stuck that into the rifle. While less convenient than the semi-automatic PTRS-41 anti-tank rifle that had a five-round magazine, the PTRS was heavier by eight pounds. For the long travels that he and his other special-purpose troops have to do, he opted for the sleeker and lighter PTRD-41.

Loading the next round in, he racked the bolt back in.

"Hey, Vist!" Another Suvorov cadet ran in with the PTRD rested on his shoulders.

"Sergei, you got the tankette?"

"Yeah, thing popped up like a jack-in-a-box." Sergei cheerfully said as he knelt down, bringing down his own PTRD onto the ground.

"I got the Type 89…" Vist said as he contemplated his shot. "That was about... 20 meters?"

"It was close…" Sergei nodded along.

"Our other troops are moving to the west, let's go disrupt movements in the south," Vist urged Sergei along.

"Right!"

* * *

 **Town center, inside perimeter, France**

"Huh? You were decimated?!" Miho reacted to the news. "What's the enemy force?"

" _Men with rifles!_ " Taeko's voice replied.

"Rifles, what? What do you mean?!"

" _I don't know!"_ Taeko shouted. " _But it happened! There were no tanks! Just guys waiting in the bushes with guns! Guns strong enough to knock out Anteater and the tankette!"_

"Rifles that could take those tanks out…?"

"Could it be anti-tank rifles?" Yukari suggested to Miho.

"Why would anyone use those?" Saori asked. "We saw those in America, remember? They were heavy and all that."

"But… they were available as options though, no one said you _couldn't_ use it…" Yukari thought. "And their still effective as they could penetrate a lot of side armor… Plus you only need one man to use each one."

"Is this another one of those loopholes?" Hana asked. "Just like how you can't use radio-intercepting aircraft but can use balloons, they're trying to use as many men as possible with these rifles?"

"No, you can only have as many team members as how many crew positions in tanks," Mako explained. "Five Panzer IV can only have 25 team players for example."

"That means their willingly reducing some tank's effectiveness by men leaving the tank's protection to destroy other tanks…" Hana deduced. "How resolute…"

"That means this has been a core part of their plan too," Yukari said.

"We'll have to warn everyone about them," Miho concluded. "Even the M4 Shermans in Saunders could be penetrated by those rifles in close range. Saori, tell everyone that!"

"Right!" Saori said as she worked her magic on the radio.

Miho looked at her map, but was perplexed with the scenario. Was Suvorov planning an armored thrust? Where is all their power? Are they keeping it bottled up? Was this all an ongoing probe to test Ōarai's forces?

Miho felt her plan was sound, but was it? What was she doing wrong?

" _Miho, this is Darjeeling. Rosehip said she was able to destroy the three T-34 tanks on the east side."_

"That's good to hear."

" _Southeast side is becoming heavily contested!"_ Katyusha's voice cried out. " _There's a lot of enemy tanks here on my side!_ "

"D-Darjeeling! Can you assist?"

" _I'll see to the situation,"_ Darjeeling said. _"Rukuriri, stand firm here."_ The rumble of the Churchill tanks sounded in the background.

"This could be the thrust…" Miho thought, the commitment of the attack on that corner was a sign. Miho juggled the information, but more and more were coming in. The situation now was drastically different than what it was five minutes ago, and yet Suvorov has yet to lay out all of its cards on the table.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

Kay's tanks were constantly on the move, trying to move through the hedgerow maze and out gambit their opponents.

"Carrie's been hit!" A cry through the radio sounded. The platoon leader's M4A3E2 was totaled. "They've got assault guns planted at grid D9!"

 _Crap, that and these pesky infantry?_ "Damn it! Get back at it!" Kay shouted, but she couldn't figure out the situation and maneuver so quickly. "Let's see… Alisa and Maria, keep forwards here! Naomi with me! Driver, turn right here!"

The platoon split as Kay's M4A3E2 turned on the intersection, Naomi in the very rear followed closely behind her. The straight line of path presented by the hedgerow made each turn a stressful event. Unable to see what lies in the turn, each turn could be a simple or a incoming round to the glacis. As Kay traveled down this straight section of the bocage, an enemy light tank crossed in front of her.

The gunner, using the stabilized 76 mm gun, fired off a shot while the Jumbo was on the move. The round smacked right into the T-70's right side and it spun with the momentum before it rested with a white-flag up.

"Ha! Got 'em!" Her gunner shouted proudly.

"Good, one less to worry about," Kay said.

" _This is Kinuyo Nishi! We're approaching with the heavy tanks on our tails! Coming in hot!_ "

"Where from?" Kay asked as the Jumbo approached the intersection the T-70 failed to cross.

" _Up north from Grid D...6!"_

Kay looked at the grid as the driver approached the road. "Driver turn left. Nishi, I don't see the corresponding path in this map!"

" _Ha? Uh…_ " *BLAM* A terrible noise emitted from the background of the radio. The same sound was heard to Kay's 11 o'clock.

"I got you now." Kay looked and correlated with the map. "Continue heading on south, we'll try to receive them."

" _R-roger that!"_

"Hey, Alisa. Where you at?"

" _D8!_ "

"Right. Meet up at the intersection at D7, right around the area with the two corner turns and that path going south."

" _...What?! Where!?"_

Kay led out an exasperated sigh. "It's at the-"

"Contact front!" Kay's gunner cried. Kay was alerted up to see several tanks pointing downrange near the end of this road strip in the hedgerow. The rounds came in, * _WO-PANG! KRACK! PANG!*_ The rounds blasted right onto the M4A3E2 front, one smacking right into the flat gun mantlet.

"Gah!" Kay instinctively ducked down as the rounds and sparks started flying.

" _Nevermind, I got you!_ " Alisa said, getting a bead from the combat.

"Hurry!" Kay shouted as the gunner started engaging. Looking through her cupola vision ports, she could see three T-34 tanks emplaced in the end. The gunner aligned her reticle with the 76 mm and fired at the rightmost tank, the 76 mm round cracked at the T-34-85's turret, ricocheting off towards the sky. Naomi's Firefly behind the Jumbo inched up to a small firing angle and shot off a round, the shot tearing apart at the center T-34's suspensions.

"Load-up! HVAP!" Kay announced as the loader reached to the special reservoir for the high-velocity armor-piercing ammunition. She slugged in the hyped round as the gunner reaimed the gun.

"Clear!" The loader shouted.

The gunner started "On the w-"

Suddenly, new tanks dashed through the intersection in between the two side's altercation. First glance gave the rather strange brown camouflage on the tanks, followed by their splotches of green and the yellow stripes. "H-hold it! Friendly tanks in front!"

" _What the hell?_ " Naomi reported in as she examined the scene in front of them. " _Wait… aren't they being pursued by a heavy tank…?"_

Kay took in that information and the gunner kept the gun trained as Chi-Ha-Tan tanks passed by. The scene was almost comical, like a train crossing cutting off two side's from having that interaction they needed. The Suvorov tanks on the other side seemed almost as confused, as they had halted their firing as well.

As the Chi-Ha-Tan tanks were tailed by a scurrying Type 95 Ha-Go light tank, the monstrosity that is the IS-2 appeared behind, approaching to run over the light tank.

"Now!" Kay yelled and the gunner fired a shot. Naomi as well and the two high velocity shells traveled into the side hull at the suspension. The IS-2 halted its incessant pursuit of the tiny Japanese tanks and sputtered, the white flag shot up. Another IS-2 behind it briefly showed itself as it carried forwards with its momentum before quickly reversing from this ambush, leaving its fallen brethren behind.

" _T-thank you very much!_ " Nishi cried out in gratitude over the radio.

"Still got enemies on the other side of that tank! Driver, forwards!" Kay shouted, the driver moved forward for the gunner to get a view over the engine deck towards the other side.

The matter was already done however. Sometime during the fighting, the remaining two T-34 tanks were knocked out with the white-flag popped out and waving about.

" _Got two of them!_ " Alisa shouted over the radio, her tank crawling into view between two knocked out T-34 tanks.

"Good shots," Kay said as she sighed a breath of relief. As the fighting around her area died down, she noticed an absence of movements from the north. She picked up the radio and exasperatedly shouted, "Miho! We have anything our way?!"

Miho came back in a jiffy. " _Negative! The detachment I sent was crippled on the way! Suvorov has-_ "

 _*CWACK-PANG!*_ The sound plastered right onto M4A3E2 sides.

"What the heck?!" Kay jerked her attention to this new threat "What's that so-"

 _*CWACK-PANG!*_ A second blast came in, the waves of a ricochet came up.

" _Suvorov has anti-tank riflemen out there!"_ Miho finished.

"Anti-tank ri-" Kay quickly scanned around the ground. The next crack in the air followed with a muzzle blast erupting from the bushes. "HEY! THAT GUY IS IN THE BUSH! REVERSE! GET HIM OUT!"

The M4A3E2 reversed as the turret swayed around, the coaxial M1919 machine gun blasting away. The heavy turret of the Jumbo tank was sluggish, and as it came over to the side with the last known position of the shooter, Kay noticed a disturbance on the other side in the hedgerows. Acting fast, the idle pintle mount on the rear of the turret swung attractively as Kay grabbed the dual grip on the M2 Browning machine gun. From her cupola, she fired towards the opposite side of the turret's front, spraying the area the disturbance was spotted. Letting out a few heavy rounds, with the clattering of the brass casing rocking on the roof of the tank, Kay felt a stunned solace within her after the rapid concussive waves of the .50 cal muzzle blast. _Wow...that felt good._ She thought as the heavy barrel emitted smoke from the firing. There wasn't any sign past the foliage that she hit anything, but it surely scared off anyone sane.

The sound of diesel engines rumble past a few hedgerows away. Seems the commotion has attracted the few pests around the area.

 _"Kay, I- I can try to send more units down south!"_ Miho yelled.

Kay shot back sternly, "No, no! Keep the heavy units there! If the bocage folds, the town's the only chance we have at a stronghold! You need to keep it held!"

" _R-right!"_

Kay put down her radio receiver. _I just ordered a Nishizumi…_ She wallowed in her actions. _Miho's must've lost her touch… She wasn't like this at all with the Americans…_ Kay dwelled briefly as a 122 mm round, a high-explosive shot, blasted on the dirt road, creating a crater in the middle of the bocage.

 _Crap, they might restrict our passages if they resort to road demolition._ Kay thought, the M4A3E2's heavier weight made for more careful handling than the regular ones. Craters could potentially overtax the suspension. "Hey, Nishi. You there?"

Around the corner from Kay's position, Chi-Ha-Tan kept their rounds in the hedgerow as they reoriented themselves from the danger they've been through. "Yes, Nishi responding!" Kinuyo Nishi responded while standing out of the her Type 97 Chi-Ha cupola.

" _You still good?"_

"Yes! We're ready for our next assignment, ma'am!"

" _Right, we've got Suvorov still trying to bite our ass here. See if you can get around them as well!"_

"R-right! Yes, ma'am!" Nishi responded as diligently as ever.

"We're going back in _there?_ " Fukuda in her Type 95 Ha-Go looked at the menacing sound with dread, with the reflected sunlight on her spectacles blinding a clear look in her eyes.

"Are you chickening out?!" Tamada cried out from the sole Type 97 Shinhoto Chi-Ha in the team. "The Chi-Ha-Tan tradition will carry us through the day!"

"Yes, but we're with Ōarai now…" Hosomi brought up.

"She's right," Nishi agreed. "We'll fight our way, but we'll do it for the benefit of Ms. Nishizumi. Besides, we've dealt with way worse before!"

* * *

 **East side of town, perimeter border, France**

The mechanical jack supported Vanilla's Cromwell as the girls moved about to fix the suspension. Cranberry and Rosehip's Cromwell stood at ready for enemy.

Rosehip, out of her Cromwell, rolled a spare road wheel towards the girl as they fixed up the shredded track.

"Here ya go!" Rosehip said as she passed it along to them, receiving thanks as replies. Towards the south, she can hear the commotion of the fighting. She went back to her Cromwell and climbed to the turret, reaching into the cupola for the radio. "What's going on out there? It's quite lively."

" _Suvorov has focused their efforts on the southeast side."_ Darjeeling explained to Rosehip. " _I am heading over to assist Katyusha._ "

"Alright, don't take too long. Don't leave us hanging here," Rosehip said as she put the radio down. Despite the commotion down south, there was no sign of enemy vehicles coming on her side, which was strange as she was the closest to the enemy start point in this whole map.

Rosehip couldn't do much though except wait for Vanilla to fix up their Cromwell so they can roll back into the town. As she took a rest, the only sound around was the crew working about on tank, and the coastal wind rustling the bushes, their tall height absorbed the force and rustled about.

A branch cracked, cutting through even the loud swooshes of the leaves and taking Rosehip's attention. Cranberry took note of Rosehip's renewed attention.

"What's wron-"

 _*CWOACK!*_ A piercing strike emerged from the hedgerows, the leaves parted from the muzzle blast. A _*PWAK!*_ noise sparked out of the side hull of the Cromwell, sparks flying and the girls reacting.

"Gaahh! Hot!" One of Vanilla's crew member screamed as she recoiled from the bright yellow flashes in the air. As she did, the mechanic noise of a hatch opening occurred atop Vanilla's Cromwell.

A second _*CWOACK!*_ tore through the hedges, this one striking the turret face of Rosehip's own Cromwell. The sparks flew up, as well as the piercing sonic boom of the ricocheting round zipping by Rosehip. The boom vibrated her ear drum heavily, feeling the force vibrate into her skull. Rosehip instinctively ducked down to cover behind the flat faced turret of the Cromwell.

"What was that?!" A girl screamed out, looking around the surrounding.

"That's anti-tank fire!" Vanilla screamed out, pointing to the hedges right on their east. "They're right over the-!"

 _*POW POW POW!*_ More fire came from the hedgerow, the soft sound of a pistol round. Vanilla 's body vibrated as two rounds hit her, then she crumpled to the ground. Other passing rounds zipped by and ricocheted off the metal cover the Cromwell provided.

"Gunner! MG that position!" Rosehip yelled to her crew. The turret traversed accordingly and the Cromwell's BESA machine gun sprayed German 7.92 mm rounds into the hedges. It raked back and forth a few times before it paused, whether by fire discipline or exhausting the ammunition. "Hand me my weapon!"

Rosehip extended a hand over the cupola as a girl passed a STEN submachine gun from within the Cromwell. Rosehip peeked up with her submachine gun ready as she walked towards Vanilla. She laid in the ground in pain, clutching her chest where she was hit. Rosehip dragged her behind her Cromwell and laid her there with her crew members.

"Is she alright?!" One of them said.

"It's not that bad, it definitely wasn't the same weapon they used on the tank," Rosehip said thankfully. "Think you can fix up the tank still?"

"Uh… actually," They pointed up to the turret. Rosehip looked and saw their efforts ending with a white-flagged Cromwell tank. She went up and walked to the other side, making sure the hedges were no longer hostile. Inspecting the side hull of the now knocked-out Cromwell, she found a speck lodged into the hull, right between the first and second Christie spring sockets. Sticking a finger for a feel, the flat hull had been interrupted by something lodged into it like a tank shell. This was enough for the Cromwell to be considered out of commission.

Rosehip sighed as she returned to the other side. "Well, I guess you girls are out then. Get Vanilla to safety inside the Cromwell before the ARV's get here, we'll continue the match here."

"R-right. Sorry Rosehip," The girls said as they apologize for the heavy inconvenience.

Rosehip went back to her own Cromwell. "Girls, get prepared to move back to the town. Cranberry! Back in!" Rosehip shouted as she made the motions with her hand, telling her to withdraw. Rosehip's Cromwell came back alive as it neutral steered around and headed back towards the town, passing by the T-34 husks that they've knocked out.

...huh?

The hatches are open…

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

"Another T-34 on the approach!"

"Firing," Nonna stoically replied as the 122 mm fired its cannon down the road.

The battle on this road raged heavily, shots flew back and forth, creating a no-tank's land in that section of the town. Suvorov's T-34 tanks fought from outside the perimeter, fighting exposed from the buildings or from the bocage fields in the back. Ōarai shot from inside, all going out to the individual targets. The high-caliber rounds tore the landscape apart with the concrete road now littered with craters before a tank had driven cleanly over it.

The IS-2 stayed back sniping at the various targets with confidence in the armor at this distance. The low number of ammunition, 28 rounds, had Nonna make each round count. Her fire was supplemented with the Klara's and Katyusha's T-34-85. The KV-2 remained in the back as a form of intimidation factor. Farther in the back, the fire of the 88 mm from Leopon's Tiger (P) and the 17-pounder in Darjeeling's Black Prince gave much needed support.

" _Just how many are they committing here?"_ Katyusha shouted as Nonna's loader loaded the next set of the two-piece 122 mm ammunition. Nonna kept the sight adjusted towards road.

 _*Klang bang*_

A metal knocking was heard around the tank. All the girls in the turret were alerted to silence, curious to this. The noise then appeared atop the turret.

 _*POOF*_

"What's that?" Nonna asked the observer in the cupola.

"S-smoke! Yellow smoke rising from our turret top!" The girl looked around frantically. "There's a smoke grenade?!"

" _Hey Nonna, you're emitting some strange color over there, what's wrong?"_

"Проклятие…" Nonna muttered as the smoke started to fill the area, some parts interfering with the sight picture. "Clear that out of us!"

"Roger that!" The observer said as she opened the hatch, the smoke started to waft into the crew compartment.

*PWING*

"Gah!" The girl outside screamed. Something struck the tank to the left, a small high-velocity shot that seemingly dented the area. She quickly removed the grenade and chucked it off into the road before quickly climbing back down. "They're shooting me out there!"

"Where?" Nonna asked."

"I don't know!" The girl cried as she looked from the safety of the IS tank. "Ah! They're running on the end of this street there!"

 _What are they doing outside their tank?_ Nonna thought. _Were they just chucking smoke grenades?_ "Keep watch, be wary if they try coming back. They could just be trying to divert our attention, there's nothing they can do to us."

"R-roger that!"

Nonna reached for her radio, "Everyone, keep an eye out. Dismounted Suvorov members are running amok in the town. They tried to obscure my sights with a smoke grenade."

" _Ha? Is that what that's about? They've got some creative sense with yellow then!"_ Satoko said from the Tiger (P).

* * *

 **Southwest side of town, France**

Under the intense firefights, Yashin crawled behind the bocage cover towards his location. Amidst the flying shells, no one noticed a single man going over to what was currently enemy territory. Crossing over three fields and through the dense hedgerows, he arrived at the watchtower at the southwest part of the town.

The watchtower was in a state of disrepair, with parts of the walls ripped out and the lookout section incomplete. Nevertheless, Yashin moved in when the area was clear. The wooden door, unlocked, creaked open as he entered and he brought his PPS-43 to aim. He carefully walked up the staircase, testing each step for integrity, lest it falls apart while he's on it. Slowly, while making sure his presence was still covert from Ōarai's forces.

Finally, he was on top, still testing the structure as he walked. Safe, he placed his PPS-43 submachine gun onto the ground, still in arms reach, and then unslung his Mosin-nagant. He sat down behind the lookout's wall, right by the open observation windows.

He brought out his notebook, opening it to the latest page. He read the contents once more.

 _T-34-85 = white-blonde lady (?Important)/ Another with a loud kid in it._

 _M4A3E2 = Blonde babe. Footnote: loud, leader co-loader?_

M4A1 = Pigtails, pointing, commanding - important

 _Panzer IV = Commander._

The last one was a specific note. He peeked out the tower towards the town center. Tanks were present at that location. He took a closer look with his binocular, seeing the vehicles present there. Some British Churchill infantry tanks present, then a T-IV medium tank. He saw the girl on top with her bright brunette hair. She was frantically trying to maintain the rising situation in front of her as the other companies made their move.

Now it was time to make his move.

Taking his eyes out of his binoculars, he picked up his Mosin-nagant. Keeping the rifle barrel inside the building, he rested the barrel tip on the sill as he rested the stock on his shoulder. Adjusting the barrel direction towards the town square, he then peered through the PU scope.

The PU scope provided a 3.5 times magnification, with an obelisk reticle emerging from the bottom to the center, two horizontal lines came out from the left and right side of the scope. He adjusted the distance gently with the knob on top. Assessing the scope image, he waited for the lenses to clearly display his sight.

The black reticle lied on the girl's most distinctive feature in this distance, her brown hair. He controlled his breath, pacing his inhale and exhales, calming the small motions in his body from interfering with the shot. As the scope movement became less erratic, he slowly exhaled, slowly lowering the reticle from the girl's hair onto her uniform extending from the cupola.

She seemed to be reacting to something the direction opposite of her, turning over her back facing towards him.

He rested a finger on the trigger.

* * *

 **Town center, inside perimeter, France**

"What? Infantry?!" Miho reacted to the news appropriately.

" _Yeah!"_ Katyusha yelled through. " _They were trying to mess up with Nonna's vision with a smoke grenade. So she says, but that's why there was yellow smoke rising."_

"In that case, take extra caution in preventing them from doing so. Try to be careful as well."

" _We'll try! As far as we can at least!"_

"Men attacking again?" Azusa said from her cupola towards Miho.

"Yeah, it seems Suvorov really likes to give the initiative to the man." Miho said.

"But why?" Saori said. "Wouldn't the tank be a much safer place to be?"

"Yes, but the tank has always been the mercy of the infantry, especially if they're on the blindspots. That's why today tanks still fight in a combined-arms to prevent that."

"Yeah, but-"

 _*PLING*_ A round hit right on the sides of the Panzer IV turret _schürzen_ plates. Miho quickly ducked down.

"Sniper! Our 7 o'clock!" Miho cried as she peeked out towards the northeast side. A man stood by the corner of a building, a short carbine at hand as he racked the bolt.

It would take too long for the Panzer IV turret to traverse all the way, so Miho reached for the cupola-mounted MG 34 on top and swung it around.

"Miho!" The turret crew cried inside in response, unable to help from the commotion as Miho took the initiative. The man finished racking his rifle as Miho aligned the MG 34 and let out a burst. _BTATATATATA_ The MG 34 blasted out the 7.92 mm rounds in the belt. The aggressor took cover behind the building as Miho fired off.

As she fired off, a figure emerged from one of the foliage and structures of the plaza. He showed up quick and charged, something in his hand.

 _Oh no!_ Miho looked. He was closing in a blind spot. The side _schürzen_ plates on the hull and turret prevented anyone from inside looking out that direction. "Enemy infantry at 10 o'clock!" Miho cried as she swung the MG 34 around, but the figure was already pulling a pin out of the object.

The figure wore the distinctive Suvorov uniform that Miho and the others had gotten familiar with from the last few days. The yellow-tan color of the gymnastyorka uniform blended the body color together. The only thing unfamiliar about this man's uniform was the black padded tanker helmet on his head, rather than the bold green SSh-39 combat helmet.

These features became clearer as he heaved the object. Miho struggled with slewing the MG 34 over and quickly reached down for her pistol holster with the Walther P-38.

 _*RATATATATATA*_ A fire noise erupted from behind the Panzer IV. The slow steady machine gun fire raked the area and hit the man. He was sent sprawling down on impact and as the object he threw landed on the Panzer IV turret top, it rested by the front ventilator.

 _*POOF*_

The smoke grenade went off, spewing out a royal blue smoke that grew in density.

Miho took a breath of relief as she assesed the situation. "Thanks Rabbit," Miho said towards their M3 Lee. The small machine gun cupola on the turret seemed to wobble back enthusiastically as a response. Miho glanced at the smoke grenade, which continued spewing out blue smoke into the air, the cloud was becoming large. The man that fell was crawling away before he got back to his feet and started running away, having done his job.

 _Was there a point in the colors?_ Miho pondered as the prominent color spread. She grabbed it and chucked it away somewhere in the plaza towards the turret front, still pointed towards the south end. She took a breath outside the cupola as the smoke cleared.

 _*KYUUI-THU!*_

A sickening thud cracked on top from the turret crew, followed by a _CRACK_ in the air. Yukari could only look in shock as Miho's body jerked forward from the energy, slamming onto the cupola's edge. Her body then slid down the cupola with the gravity and fell back into the turret.

"GAAAAAHHH!" She screamed, clutching onto her abdomen's side. Her radio was still alive from the recipients, questioning the situation on the commander's side. But Yukari, Hana, Mako, and Saori felt their bone chills hearing Miho's cry of pain. Yukari let out a coarse cry:

"MIHO!"

* * *

 **Edit (10/1): Changed the impact location of the sniper's round on Miho from head to body amidst medical concerns.**

 **Edit (11/20): Overhauled the chapter. REBOOT!**


	26. Maskirovka

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 26: M** **askirovka**

 **Pre-chapter author's note: I revamped my entire Chapter 25 while writing this so if you are long-time follower who came back for Chapter 26, I recommend going back to 25 and rereading it. I overhauled the events with new fighting situations, new concepts; though how it started and how it ended is unchanged.**

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

Miho's stifled cry of pain echoed inside the Panzer IV interior. Her howl escaped her closed lips as she tried in vain to control it. Outside, Azusa from her M3 Lee was in a stunned scream as blue smoke filled the town center.

"Miho!" Yukari quickly climbed back into the Panzer IV and attended to her. Miho gripped with pressure on her right side abdomen, right around her belly area. "Are you alright?!" Her instinctive, yet redundant question blurted out as she tried to get a look on the area of pain.

"Mako! Drive to cover!" Saori yelled out in concern.

Mako felt her limbs move on their own. Shifting the gear, applying the foot lever, and adjusting the levers and the Panzer IV began to reverse past Rabbit team towards the open church doors. Without anyone watching the path, Anglerfish's Panzer IV reversed and crashed right into the front walls of the church, meters from the large open door. The crash threw the girls with the inertia, being thrown backwards towards the rear, with Miho towards the rear wall, Yukari and Hana fell right onto the turret ring. Saori and Mako had the benefit of backrest on their seats to inhibit the effect, but the rattling of the brass cartridges in the storage sponsons clanged, evoking instinctive warnings of high-caliber ammunition being disturbed.

Hana quickly recovered and opened her turret hatch on the left side. "Mako! Turn about 20 degrees to the right and reverse!"

Mako shifted the gear quickly and drove the Panzer IV forwards to make distance between the walls, turning right as she drove on. Somewhere in the city, the piercing *CWACK* sounded out, echoing between the buildings. It followed with a *CLUNG* on the Panzer IV's left side. Mako paid no heed to this as she continued operating the Panzer IV into reverse, slowly entering the open arms of the walls as it swallowed it into the interior.

Mako continued reversing before sloppily turning in a parking fashion.

"Mako, please stop!" Hana quickly said, judging the distance on the interior walls. Mako swiftly made her moves and the Panzer IV quickly came to a stop, the inertia once more shifting the girls inside the tank.

Miho's breath was heavy in the tank as the sound of battle declined inside the masonry of the building. The damage had hit her like a punch to the guts, her breath beaten out of her on the impact.

"Nishizumi-dono…" Yukari said as she tried to alleviate some of Miho's pain in the building's darkness. She couldn't tell if she was helping.

Then an explosion blasted nearby, sending dust and shrapnel all over.

* * *

 **Southwest of the town, France**

Yashin ducked back down behind the walls in the watchtower. He carefully angled his rifle with the bolt area towards him and cycled. _*Click-clack*_ the bolt went as the he brought the bolt up in the first stage, then pulled the bolt open on the second. The ejected round landed onto his body, muffling the sound of the bouncing case. He grabbed it and stuck the empty case into a pocket on his hip. Carefully closing the bolt to cycle the next round, he moved around the tower. From the northern side, he stalked towards the south, keeping care to stay hidden from any observant characters. The fighting continued in the east as his team's tanks speared towards the southeastern side. As the fighting intensified, it seemed Ōarai had invested a significant portion of their force there. All this was no concern for him though as he moved on for another target.

The American tanks in the south bocages were prime targets. His high elevation gave him some leverage over some angles in the hedgerows. On a corner, he could see the yellow hair color on one the girls, contrasting with all the green there. He estimated the distance with his two eyes at suspect, then laid his rifle once more on his shoulder. Using the an open window side as a support, he rested his cheek on the stock as he aimed for another target in the distance.

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

The fighting continued, despite the presence of yellow smoke in the air. The wind blew the smoke towards the east away from the tanks, clearing their vision. Caution was taken on the left flank for infantry presence. If they tried another attempt with the smoke grenades, someone was gonna get a bullet for the trouble.

"They seem to be halting," Klara noted. The T-34-85 were now taking their time behind cover.

"M-maybe we dealt enough damage?" Nina said. "It's like us, if we lose enough tanks, you pull back like in-"

"What do you mean?!" Katyusha shouted out loud. "We never pull back unless I say so! And never had we pull back because of casualties!"

Katyusha's thundering claim concluded with a wood-breaking _*CRASH!*_. All the girls turn their attention to the source of the sound. A building in front was engulfed in an explosion. The blast sent out waves of dust and specks all over the place. The flying shrapnel of wood and masonry hit the tank and cupola covers.

"What was that?!" Katyusha shouted out loud. All the girls were stunned with the explosion force.

"T-that f-felt like our 152!" Alina shouted from the KV-2. "Maybe a bit weaker, but still!"

"They do have assault gun…" Klara noted. "Could they have _Zverboy_?"

"Grr, where are they firing from?" Katyusha shouted, she picked up the radio. "Oi Miho-sha! We're taking fire by heavy artillery here! What's our next move?!"

Silence. Katyusha looked at her radio briefly to see if it was still working. "Hello?!" She cried again. She gave the radio a good whap to make sure. "Hello!?"

She then changed the frequency. "Hey, Miho's gone silent! Anyone know what's going on?!"

" _Huh?!"_ Kay answered first. " _I was just in contact with her a few minutes ago!"_

" _I noticed as well. I am unsure of her circumstance,"_ Darjeeling responded.

" _Is Miho alright!?"_ Anchovy chimed in.

" _Huh? Ms. Nishizumi is gone?!"_ Nishi called in as well. All questioning the circumstance, and all loss without the leader up top.

" _Everyone calm down,_ " Darjeeling called out. " _Our current situation is unchanged. Considering the match is still going on, the worst has yet to happen."_

" _Could they have someone move in and attack Miho?"_ Anchovy asked. _"They have anti-tank riflemen staking out in the bocage!"_

" _Anti-tank riflemen…So that's what they were,"_ Kay cursed. _"Darn Suvorov… exploiting the wilderness to the maximum…"_

Darjeeling agreed, " _How ungentlemenlike_. _Nevertheless, we must push on. Kay, continue commandeering the force down south. Until we regain communication with Nishizumi, I will take command of the town force here. All units copy? Jasmine?"_

A series of agreement came back.

" _Right. I will send someone to check on our commander."_

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

Kay felt a new weight of responsibility as the commander of Dandelion. It felt like an eagle in the sky, eyeing above with guidance, was just shot down. They were on their own for the time being, with her own intuition as their guidance.

And her own intuition was to find and slaughter the Suvorov tanks.

"Gunner! Left side!" Kay shouted, and the large turret swung around with its long 76 mm gun towards a bocage alley they are passing by. Gun fire blasted, not from Kay M4A3E2 though, but from the T-34-85 down the sight, which itself was focused on Alisa's group in front of them. Their gun fired, the commander on the tank was too fixed to what was in front to see Kay get the jump on him. A good 76 mm armor-piercing shot into the side ended the Russian medium tank.

" _All-right! You got him!"_ Alisa shouted with a sigh of relief.

"Aren't you glad to see me?"

" _Oh please, I was handling him fine myself!_ " Alisa insisted.

Kay chuckled as the tank rolled about. "Alright, if you say so."

The tanks were raking through the hedgerow like knives through leaves. Losing themselves in hunting down the enemy, locating the enemy has become an essence of locating engine noises, surrounding, and then eliminating them. From here, there are several medium tanks, one heavy tank, assault guns, and several light tanks in the area. Confirmed at least, the amount of fighting has been tough with the several tanks here.

The M4A3E2 Jumbo drove down towards an intersection when something squirmed out in front of the tank like a little bug. This swift thing looked at Kay's M4A3E2 with its comparatively tiny gun. The small light tank blasted a 45 mm shell right into the front glacis with what could be described as stubborn resistance. The round unsurprisingly just bounced off and the light tank sped away in the opposite direction forwards.

"Hey, just got hit by a light tank, we're pursuing down the west path at the coordinate." Kay said calmly, not considering the Russian T-70 light tank a major threat.

" _Roger that,_ " Alisa replied. " _I'll see if we can box him in and- oh! Whoa, he's a fast bugger!"_

Kay's M4A3E2 pursued behind him. The gunner tried to get a fix on the tank with the stabilized gun, but it turned and so the pursuit was one.

"Hey, Nishi, _"_ Kay called out. _"We got a tiny bugger coming your way, so if you're still at the center path, keep an eye out."_

" _Affirmative Ms. Kay!_ "

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

"We should probably relocate, shouldn't we?" Satoko said quickly from the back. "I mean, they probably already know where we are from all the fighting…"

"It's just one long road," Katyusha said back. "Where else could we go? Our avenue is quite limited."

Then a loud _*CRASH*_ followed by a _*BLAM*_ cratered the road in the very middle of the road. The projectile ricocheted off the concrete and flew into the tree and then away into the sea behind the town.

The trajectory of this round was made quite clear with a hole in the roof of one of the building in its path, coming from the path of the hedgerow. With the amount of force the AP came in, these obstacles were no threat to its path to target.

"Relocate, relocate!" The girls cried out. Suddenly, the loud explosion on the other building didn't seem as random as it was. "They're trying to get a bead on us!"

"Calm down!" Katyusha cried out. "Move positions! Fall back to the secondary positions!"

"How are they spotting with those guns?!" A Pravda girl cried.

Nonna quickly looked around for infantry. Was there a radio man keeping tabs on the impact locations? There wasn't one in sight, but one would have to be in a very clear view of the artillery splash to make the corrections.

Actually, how were they getting these rounds as close as they were? The first high-explosive round landed rather close to their location at the first try...

A second explosion sounded from the center of the town. Katyusha looked back curiously, was that a round way off target?

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

Rosehip's Cromwell two-tank platoon was almost caught in that explosion. The blast struck the center of town, right where Rosehip was heading to check on the last known position of Miho Nishizumi. The blast tore down most of the tall greenery and pristine decorations around the area, the blast force even shaked the stone of the mock church building, engulfing the area with a black inferno.

As Rosehip's Cromwells approached and slid to a stop, she noted there were two such craters in the area, not more than 50 meters apart. But both Miho's tank and her headquarter group was nowhere to be seen.

"Stay out here," Rosehip said to Cranberry. "Uh, stay as far as you can from that crater area."

Cranberry nodded nervously among the tank fight in the south-east. Rosehip dismounted and headed inside the dark church opening. Inside, she found the two missing tank, the M3 Lee and the Panzer IV. The commander of the M3 Lee was outside the tank, somewhat shivering. The entire left side of the M3 Lee was sooted black with scratches of shrapnel from a explosive force. Rosehip recalled the magnitude of the crater outside and connected the two reasons.

"What's going on here? Where's Miho?" Rosehip asked the Ōarai girl.

She looked up and pointed towards the Panzer IV. Upon focusing, noises were coming from inside.

"There was a sniper outside as well," Azusa commented. "Watch out for the windows!"

"Right," Rosehip said as she approached the Panzer IV. She made her presence known as loud as possible to warn the occupants of her approaching. The scene was dramatic inside the open cupola, with the Miho still sitting inside and the girls trying their best to comfort her. Without medical expertise, all they could do is to restore Miho into a stable condition.

"What's going on here?" Rosehip roared inside.

"Miho got hit!" Saori reiterated what Azusa said outside, holding a wet cloth in her hand, soaked from Yukari's canteen.

"R-rosehip…" Miho said, seeing the St. Gloriana girl standing there peering her head down to her.

"That don't look good," Rosehip gave her opinion. "We should get her off the field to a hospital!"

Hana spoke first, "That's what we've be-"

"N-no!" Miho cried out. She made some effort to get up. "N...no! I'm not done ye- Ugh!" Miho lost some strength and came back down.

"Nishizumi-dono, we need to at least get a medic look at that!" Yukari insisted.

"N, no. Yukari, you know I ca-can't do that…"

"Nishizumi-dono…"

"What does she mean?" Rosehip looked at Yukari.

Yukari stammered, "Ah, uh… she… really wants to make it to the finals."

"I get that, but…" Rosehip looked back between the two. "Look, I'll tell the others this, but we really should get her to a doctor! We can call one in and get Miho ou-" Rosehip looked back at Miho, noting her extreme reluctance to abandon this post. "I'll signal everyone first, get Miho some more rest. Tell Miho to take a breath," Rosehip said as she started climbing down the Panzer IV. The Anglerfish girls continued to apply their best abilities to helping Miho.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

The Saunder tanks pursued the light tank through the hedgerow. The M4A3E2 couldn't keep up, so they tried to force the light tank into turns right into their gun sight by boxing it in.

Soon, Kay's M4A3E2 got up to a side and machine gunned down an intersection the T-70 was approaching down. It was forced to turn left and right into an intersection that Alisa's M4A1 (76) was in.

" _I have you now!"_ Alisa shouted giddily. _"I'll smack you right in the a-"_

 _*KYUUI-PLANG!*_

The clang of metal echoed in between the bushes like a bong across the airspace. Kay heard that sound as it echoed over, followed with a loud _*CRACK*_ noise in the air. The sound became eerily identified to the sound heard onŌarai carrier.

"SNIPER!" Kay cried. "Get down!"

Motion in Kay's tank platoon ceased as the tank commanders became concerned of their heads being whacked off. The T-70 turned and zipped away unmolested

" _Shitshitshit! Wheredidthatcomefrom?!_ " Alisa yelled out in a ramble, her head was barely saved.

" _That shot came before the sound…_ " Naomi said briefly through the radio. Shuffling noises followed as she kept the radio receiver pushed in, the noise of her chewing gum could also be heard as she looked. " _Alisa, did that round come in onto your cupola hatch?_ "

Kay looked back on the six vision port on the cupola. Alisa's hatch was open towards the tank's right to the south. Following Naomi's deduction, the concave underside of the commander's hatch seemed to form an arc as a suspicion of the sniper's location.

" _Y-yeah!"_ Alisa quickly answered.

Kay watched as Naomi's lone periscope on her older commander's hatch rotated around to look, like a submarine peeking from under the sea. _"That's where I'd be…_ " She commented absently, her gum chewing in the background. _"About 450 yards from here...I wouldn't peek out there girls. This sniper's got talent."_

 _We can't fight like this_ , Kay quickly thought. The fast response of the bocages required the commander to have the best situational awareness now. To continue fighting without that advantage would be detrimental even in the Shermans. "Can you do anything about it?" Kay asked.

" _Maybe, but I'll be a while. You don't mind do you?"_ Naomi asked, as if asking permission to abandon her current assignment for this crucial role.

"Go get him," Kay answered.

" _Roger that. Driver reverse!_ "

Naomi's Firefly tank slowly backed out of their current situation. While the 17-pounder would be missed, the 76 mm would do just fine at this close range fighting. "Now, let's get to business as best we can! Move out!"

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

Leopon kept watch as Pravda repositioned their tanks. The incoming rounds were a threat and if a tank position was predictable, then all that had to be done was walk the fire right into the emplacement. Hopefully this threw out the aim.

"Phew… This battle is quite tense!" Hoshino commented as she kept watch through the TZF-9b gun sight of the 88 mm KwK 36.

"Yeah… Suvorov is quite an opponent," Satoko followed up.

"You think we'll be okay?" Suzuki said.

"We'll be fine! Just follow as planned and no tank can get past us!" Satoko pumped her fist.

 _*Klang bang*_

A metal-on-metal banging sounded atop the turret. It sounded as it rolled off the turret and into the back, more banging followed.

 _*POOF*_

Yellow smoke spread outside the tank, some going down into the turret through the tiny holes around the area.

"What?! Satoko said as the smoke started seeping through the cupola.

"Chemical?!" Suzuki cried out.

"No! It's the same thing with Nonna!" Hoshino quickly recalled.

"Smoke… oh shoot our engine!" Satoko cried out as she quickly ejected herself through the cupola.

The girls inside cried out for her patience as she scrambled outside the tank. The yellow smoke bellowed out of a canister on the rear of the tank and Satoko felt her blood twist as she saw the running Maybach engine sucking in the spreading smoke through the air intake.

Satoko quickly grabbed the canister and chucked it far away, as far as she could. Then she ducked down to inspect the engine.

"Satoko!" Her crew inside cried out. She hastily checked and made sure the engine ran as she fanned away the smoke around the area. Momentarily, the smoke cleared away and Satoko was confident the engine worked and climbed back into the tank.

"Engine is working fine!" Satoko announced inside.

"Satoko, how do you do it?!" Suzuki cried out.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you realize you were being shot at?"

Satoko looked dumbfounded as she looked around. She then realized the turret had been traversed from the 1 o'clock position down the road to the hull's 10 o'clock. She looked down and saw a collection of bullet casing on the bottom. "Wait… were you shooting someone?"

"You didn't know at all?" Hoshino looked back eyes wide open. "There was someone shooting you that whole time you were out there. You weren't hit?"

"No… I really didn't know."

* * *

 **Southwest bocage fields, France**

The Sherman VC Firefly parked a few way back before it paused besides one of the many lengths of hedgerow in this bocage maze.

"Halt here driver," Naomi gave her order between her gum chews. "Drop me off here. Loader, hand me my rifle."

"We should just machine gun the site, Naomi," Her gunner said.

"No, no. Machine gun may be inaccurate. We won't take him out quick and he'll just stake out there or move on. Either way, he's would still be a threat."

"Gah, if only we could use the main gun…"

"As cool as that sounds, you know we can't do that," Naomi said as she reached over the huge 17-pounder gun's recoil guard and took the rifle. The familiar Springfield M1903A4 sniper rifle, which managed to fit in one of the precious spaces in the loader's position.

Naomi checked the rifle, racked the bolt. Then reached to one of the few commander's storage areas and pulled out a few clips of .30-06 rounds. She took them off the clip and loaded the rounds into the rifle individually. "Alright girls, I'm off. Take care of the tank, alright? Stick around here unless it's an emergency."

"Yes ma'am!"

Naomi opened the cupola in her Firefly, conscious about the hatch opening direction to try to get some shield coverage just in case. She slowly peeked out the area for hostiles, then quickly bolted out of the Firefly to the ground. Pressing down with her boots on the hard dirt road, she edged towards the target along the dense hedgerow, careful to not be in the field of vision until at her prime location.

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

"Huh? Smoke on our rear now?" Katyusha asked for confirmation.

" _Yeah! Someone came up to us and tried to choke our tank with the smoke!"_ Some scuffling happened behind the radio from Leopon's side.

" _It's something more than that!"_ A different voice spoke up. " _Why would they need to use yellow smoke otherwise?"_

"Yellow smoke again…?" Katyusha wondered why. Colored smoke wouldn't really be used concealment, they're mostly used for signaling. Maybe that was all the Suvorov have?

Then a loud _*WHAM*_ with an explosion sounded behind the group! Katyusha looked back quickly and saw the plaza all the way in the rear behind Leopon erupt in an explosion of dirt and rubble. It was of the same magnitude as the other shells that were landing around them, now in a high-explosive payload.

Katyusha was reminded of the time a 60 cm payload almost landed on her during that match. Though this explosion force was a lot smaller, the force warped everything around it, swirling around rubble with the air and the yellow smoke.

… _wait a minute. Yellow smoke?_ Katyusha quickly noted the presence of the hostile element. The only reason it would be in the explosion is if the shell landed right...on it.

"They're using the smoke as a signal for the assault gun indirect fires!" Katyusha shouted into the radio. "Relocate once more! Keep an eye out for Suvorov infantry, don't let them get a smoke grenade on you!"

"R-right!" The replies came in.

But if Suvorov can lob indirect fire from their large calibers so willfully, then… the hedgerow south is not being contested as heavily as it should be.

"Gosh darn it Kay, what are you doing?!" Katyusha grumbled.

* * *

 **Southwest of the town, France**

The explosion shook the town, but Yashin did not waver his rifle. After his missed shot, the American girls have dispersed. He cursed at his missed chance of incapacitating another key figure, but his presence has forced the girls to watch their path and take a button-upped position.

Yashin got back down to examine his map, checking his plotted firing arcs and points that he is able to take. He moved towards the North side of the watchtower, peering over back to the center plaza. Two British tanks had shown up, but the rest were keeping their heads down, still fearful after the deed he has done there. Still, they were the only targets in his view at the moment, so he kept watch, waiting for a careless individual to step out.

Suddenly, he could hear engine sounds coming in much closer out in the fields. He came back towards the southeast end of the tower and saw commotion in the fields. Tanks were moving past. He slowly raised his rifle up, watching for the enemy to see if they expose themselves.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

Nishi's platoon only started moving before a rather stubby looking light tank zoomed up into its view.

The light tank was weird looking, with its turret offsetted to the right with a rather puny 45 mm gun compared to everything else she had to fight so far against Suvorov. It had a menacingly 35 mm sloped front armor, but it showed off a flat 15 mm side armor as it popped out of an intersection and came in full view of the Chi-Ha-Tan platoon.

"Enemy!" Tamada shouted.

"враг!" The Suvorov crew shouted back.

"Fire! Fire!" Was the cry, a similar sound came back from the T-70. A volley of fire came from the Chi-Ha-Tan tanks as the T-70 quickly reversed back where it came from.

"Charge at it!" Hosomi cried out.

"Let's go!" Tamada agreed.

"W-wait a m-" Nishi was drowned out over the revving of the two girl's Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks as they zipped past Nishi's own tank, the smaller size of the Japanese tank allowing a more free movement in the constricted hedgerows.

The T-70 light tank crew were frantically reversing before using the momentum to turn and book it before the charging girls arrive.

"Hrrgh, let's go Fukuda!" Nishi relented as she looked at the lone Type 95 Chi-Ha remaining.

"O-Okay Miss Nishi!" Fukuda replied with a nod as they raced along with Tamada and Hosomi.

* * *

 **Southwest of the town, France**

As the sound of diesel engines grew louder to her east, Naomi edged inside the bocage, right in the vehicle-inaccessible fields that these hedgerows surround. Small animal paths cleared the vegetation, allowing some paths through the dense foliage with some interesting body contortions. Her movement masked by these hedgerows, she reached the edge and got low to the ground.

The main southern perimeter road extended right past the hedgerow she hid behind. Inside the town just across this road, she could see the watchtower in question that tried to bite off Alisa at this distance. She looked up at the top and saw the small silhouette of a man raising a rifle.

 _Got you…_ Naomi confirmed her sights as she checked her rifle once more. The safety definitely off. From her position at a low crouch, she slowly and steadily lowered herself into a crawling stance. She crawled forwards, with her hands and knees dragging her slowly over the foliage, taking care to not cause unnecessary disturbance. Next to a prime location, she rolled over towards her left, over her back while bringing the rifle up onto her body to get it in the right position as she came down.

The bushes above were dense, but the lower area of this particular hedgerows was clear enough for her to gave a good sight on the watchtower, with enough around the area to keep her concealed. She rested part of the wooden furniture of the M1903A4 alongside a thicker branch of the hedgerow, helping her stabilize the sights.

Inside the tower, she stalked the man up top as she saw him move about still. The range was a lot closer than when she first heard the shot. This distance was now less than 100 meters. At this distance, the Weaver scope's 2.75x zoom was good enough for her to adjust the reticles, the simple cross line reticles trailing vertical and horizontally, up to the target. The point of intersection of the reticle on target, Naomi closed her teeth onto the gum piece still in her mouth, the squishy gum base compressed between her teeth, cushioning the teeth clench as she steadied herself for a shot.

* * *

He could see the tanks, some old riveted tanks they rolled down the dirt road. Were they Japanese? He never made a note on that, but he kept a reticle on that road, watching for anyone who was carelessly sticking their body out.

He saw some sliver of clothing and focused the reticle.

A small glint shined on the edge of his peripheral vision. "Hmm?!" He recognized that disturbance, light flashing off the glass lens. He challenged that notion and quickly shifted his rifle towards that glint. He only had a split-second to get the scope image.

In it, he could see the single lens glint on top of a rifle. Laying on the dark green foliage, the girl with her short brunette hair stared back through the circular oculus, highlighting her brown iris towards Yashin. That was all he saw before a flash blinked out of the girl as she pushed back.

 _*-KSSH! KA!*_

Something thrusted Yashin's head back as it knocked on his eye. He couldn't even mutter a grunt as he fell back, his full weight throwing him to the floor. Stunned, he didn't hear the muzzle report coming past the watch tower.

* * *

Naomi's Springfield rifle briefly smoked the remnants of the burning propellent out the muzzle before she cycled the bolt, the .30-06 casing came out, also emitting the remaining vapor of the powder.

Naomi sighed briefly as the diesel noise in the east faded away. Even if the man wasn't unconscious, he wasn't going to be able to snipe anymore. She prepared to crawl back towards her tank.

The ground vibrated towards her.

 _*Btbtbtbtbtbtbt*_

Naomi looked at the disturbance peculiarly… the individual dirt specks on the ground was rumbling, each disturbed at each amplitude of the sound. A physical disruption manifested through the earth.

The sound grew louder. _*Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack*_ The sound bashing onto the hard concrete surface.

Naomi peeked back out from her firing spot from the hedgerow back into the perimeter road. She tuned her ears, determining the source of this disturbance. _Towards the left…_ She thought, looking towards the west direction of the road.

Four T-34-85 presented themselves on the curved south perimeter road, driving towards Naomi.

 _Huh?_ Naomi became paralyzed at this appearance. _Why are there Soviet tanks at the west?_

The monstrous tanks continued forward and Naomi sprung back up, sprinting through the hedgerow back towards her tank. _I need to tell everyone!_

* * *

"Ugghh…" Yashin had a gnawing feeling in his head, a wound feeling like a heavily bruised forehead. He reached for a small mirror in his right pocket, bringing it up to angle the projection towards him. A swelled spot was growing on top of his right eye. "...shit." He said as he examined to see if he was bleeding.

He reached for his rifle, tossed aside to his right. Bringing the wooden piece towards him, he saw the damage done. His scope was shattered in front, the round penetrated through the lens and embedded itself in the middle in the components. The PU scope was ruined. Begrudgingly, Yashin slowly removed the scope off his Mosin-Nagant. Then he reached into his bags for the colored smoke grenades in stock.

As he does so, he heard tank movement just outside his tower. Recognizing the track noises as that of a T-34, he approached the edge of the watch tower and peeked out. The presence of a T-34-85 platoon under the colors of Suvorov brought news to his eyes, which winced again as he tried widening his view.

"Ow…"

* * *

 **Southwest bocage fields, France**

The Firefly crew members were surprised to see their commander running back on the main roads rather than stealthily through the hedgerow.

"Naomi, what's wrong?" The loader asked.

"They're coming right now!"

"Who?"

"Suvorov! Did you see any enemy tanks moving past here?!"

"Wha-? There was nothing here in the time you were gone!"

Naomi glanced around, their tank in a rather quiet sector in the bocages. "Here!" Naomi tossed up her rifle, the loader caught it quickly in surprise. "Give me the map and radio!"

The girl in the cupola reached down to head back down the gunner position as Naomi planted herself in the commander's seat. The map and radio piece available to her as she looked and dialed towards Kay.

"Kay, I took out the sniper, but we have a problem! Suvorov tanks coming in from the West!"

A brief silence as her message was received and interpreted. " _Ha? The West?! That's our starting point!"_

"I don't know what they're doing there or how they did, but they're there and coming in!"

" _How many?"_

"I saw four, but there are probably more!"

" _Damn! If they were getting around us…This isn't looking good!"_

* * *

"Charge! Charge! Charge!" Tamada shouted as the Chi-Ha-Tan group gave chase against the scrambling T-70 light tank.

"He's heading to the west! We got him cornered!" Hosomi shouted enthusiastically.

The T-70 turned towards the north, up to the town. During these movements, the different caliber of weapons on the Chi-Ha-Tan tanks: 37 mm, 47 mm, and 57 mm, all fired at the fleeing light tank. The rounds bounced all over in the movement.

Then the T-70 turn another left turn back to the west. Tamada's tank was the first to reply, her 47 mm on the Shinhoto Chi-Ha eager to hit a round in the T-70's engine compartment.

"You're mine!" Tamada's Type 97 Shinhoto made the turn and saw the T-70, silhouetted by a larger tank with the same camouflage as the T-70, as well as pointing a very, very long gun towards the Type 97. All L/55 caliber length for an 85 mm shell, calculating to a barrel length of 4,675 mm long.

"Eh?" Tamada said as the explosive force of an AP round fired out of the gun. The 85 mm shell hit the Type 97 head-on, the Type 97 nearly flipped over from the energy alone, forcing it back to the intersection it made its turn at.

"Huh?" Hosomi cried in surprise as her friend's tank white flag came up. Her tank's diesel engine was soon drowned out by even more powerful diesel engines beyond the intersection.

"Fall back!" Nishi cried out. "Just fall back now!"

"Eek!" The Chi-Ha-Tan commanders made their haste out of there as a T-34-85 crawled out into the open, then made its turn towards the town.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

"Gunfire to the west…" Kay noted the sound. "So the bastards really did get around us!"

" _How?!"_ Alisa shouted. " _There shouldn't be that many free passages around us!"_

"The assault guns covering the south road… Could that be the way?" The whole hedgerow mess was giving Kay a headache. Did a whole enemy force simply slipped by while another fought hard in the east?

" _Hey Kay!"_ Katyusha's brash voice shouted. " _What the heck are you doing down there?! We're being shelled by Suvorov artillery!"_

"I've got my hands full as well!" Kay shouted back. "I got enemy tanks to my west as well!"

" _Wha? Enemy tanks to your west?! How many!?"_

" _More than a platoon's worth!"_ Naomi chimed into the line. " _I don't know how many, but they're about to roll into town!_ "

" _This isn't good…"_ Darjeeling called in. " _We're stretched thin as is here. We only expected them to the east. Even Jasmine wouldn't be able to contest them easily"_

"What should we do?" Kay asked in.

The situation was rapidly getting overbearing for the stretched Ōarai force. Now the numerical superiority of Suvorov has been made clear, taking the operational superiority over their defenses.

A need to consolidate their force was needed, even if it meant sacrificing a theater.

" _Kay,"_ Darjeeling called in. " _Withdraw Dandelion back to the town and bolster our defenses. We have to abandon the bocage, else you all might be encircled."_

Kay thought about decision. Normally she'd take any suggest to withdraw as being too serious for this kind of sport. She wanted to fight it out, maybe take a few of Suvorov with her! But Suvorov has proven to be in a way different ballpark than anyone here had anticipated.

After a moment, Kay replied "Understood… we're withdrawing."

" _Kay! Contact with enemies to our west!_ "

"Goddamn it! They're here already?!"

* * *

 **South of the town, France**

"I'm bored~" Aki cried out from the BT-42 turret roof.

"Bored for inaction or for the clearness of your mind?" Mika replied as she fine tuned her kantele.

"Agh! Why don't we do something?"

She says as Jasmine company loitered in an area south of the town, guarding from any Suvorov tanks from making a beeline towards the west from the south perimeter road. They already knocked out a lone T-34 tank that tried just that, its white-flagged hull sitting about 150 meter from their position, Turtle team's Hetzer dealt with it quite effectively.

After that however, their activity dropped drastically as they waited for new assignments.

Finally, the radio spoke up in the Hetzer, and Anzu and Yuzu quickly attended to it to hear Darjeeling's voice.

" _Jasmine team, beware: enemy tanks approaching for the west."_

"Eh?" Anzu first reacted.

" _Multiple enemy tanks suspected. We are withdrawing Dandelion to consolidate our forces. Move away from the perimeters and withdraw back into the town's perimeter."_

"Wait, this is totally news to us! What's going on out there?!" Momo quickly shouted, booming in the confines of the Jagdpanzer 38(t). "How did we lose the initiative so quickly!"

"That's assuming we had it this whole time…" Anzu said. "But she's right, we'll only get chewed up if we stay here and get sandwiched from both sides."

" _We've only got limited roads to move in from,_ " Anchovy put in her opinions. " _East side is still contested, but we can move into the town through the main road on the southwest and protect it from there!_ "

" _That's assuming they haven't already overrun the west…"_ Janne from the KV-1 said.

" _Well it's a better chance than none!_ " Sodoko cried out. " _Let's move! In orderly fashion!"_

So the Jasmine company tanks quickly revved up their engines upon this new order.

Suddenly, a series of piercing _*CWACK*_ sound cracked through the air. These sound followed by the ricocheting noises of the high-velocity rounds smacking on metal.

It wasn't just a volley of one or two fire like usual, but a whole series like a machine gun. Girls scurried to their vision ports on this noise.

"Tanks?!" One cried out.

"No!" Anchovy shouted, recognizing the noise. "Anti-tank rifles!"

* * *

Vist and eight other rifleman in the "special purpose" group had converged on this emplaced Ōarai group from all directions. Surrounding it by all sides, they engaged with pin-point accuracy. The rifles were strong enough to tear apart the tracks of the tanks even if they couldn't penetrate some of the armor easily.

But unlike before when they perform hit-and-run movements after firing, the group continued pushing their assault on this shamble of a tank group, continuing reloading their rifles. They were intent on expending their remaining ammunition here to take out all of the tanks.

The Ōarai tanks responded slowly, some of the tanks don't even have a machine gun to defend themselves. The only tank of big threat was the two heavies, the Italian P40 and the French Char B1 bis.

Still, the response eventually came. The Hetzer came alive when the machine gun on the roof started moving on its own. The machine gun methodically chose targets and fired sprays of rounds into the hedgerow. Some of the inattentive riflemen were caught in the bursts and fell.

After several volleys, the tanks were all still operational. Finally, Vist unhooked a smoke grenade from his web gear and threw the red canister into the fray. The cylindrical canister bounced off the top roof of one of the tanks and landed on the ground in the center of the whole group.

"Let's go, pull back!" Vist shouted to his men. They made their getaway as fast as possible.

* * *

The red canister bounced off the top of the StuG III's roof and landed, right before it went off with a _*POOF*_ and soon emitted red smoke into the air.

"Oh dear, that can't be good…" Carpaccio said meekly, remembering the reports from Sunflower.

"Let's go! We gotta move!" Sodoko cried out.

Some tracks moved on that order, but from other tanks, only the screeching sound of broken tracks played out.

"Our tracks are broken!" Momo panicked.

"Mine as well!" Carpaccio shouted as well.

"Not good here as well!" Erwin said.

" _Don't worry, I got you- ah! The suspension!"_ Anchovy realized she was in the same situation as well.

Time was ticking for the girls as the red smoke spread into the air. Only three tanks could move in the group of seven. Of the three, the BT-42 would have no chance of towing any of the other vehicles away.

"What do we do?!" Saemonza shouted.

"Leave us!"

"I don't wanna die!"

"We can't just minger here!"

"Let's hurry!" Janne shouted as she and Aatami quickly left their KV-1. They hastily lifted one of the tow cable on the tank. Upon selecting which tank would get it, she simply ordered "Save the tanks that are still helpful!"

With that, she hooked the cables onto the StuG III.

Mallard team in their Char B1 bis were anxious on what was about to come with the red smoke, but they couldn't stay put. "Girls! We can't leave them alone! We gotta save one as well!"

"R-right, Sodoko!" Her crew agreed as they did the same, quickly hooking their cables onto the Hetzer.

Soon a whistling noise came in as the girls were outside.

"Get down!" The others shouted, the girls threw themselves down under the tanks.

A loud _*WHOOMP*_ exploded in the air, followed by what sounded like rubble falling down.

The explosion had gone far, hitting the town interior that left the red smoke undisturbed.

"C'mon, let's hurry before they realized they missed!" The girls shouted as they hustled. The Char B1 and KV-1 hooked on, the proceeded to drag the immobilized vehicles with them.

Unfortunately, their mobility slowed to a crawl. The engine were already quite taxed as it was with the tank's own weight, now it dealt with the additional stress of the assault guns they were trying to tug.

"No…" Janne thought. "Not strong enough! We need more power!"

It wasn't enough and the tanks only moved a few meters in the short moments.

Another whistle sounded in the air. Each girl braced for the impact. Once again, the blast sent dirt and debris flying, it landed to the south in the hedgerows.

"They won't make that mistake again! Let's move Matti!" Janne shouted.

"Anymore stress and our transmission is gonna give way!" Matti shouted as she has handled the drive gear.

"Come on Moyoko, drive!" Sodoko shouted from behind.

"It won't budge!" Moyoko replied.

Sodoko cursed deep inside herself. She stared back behind at the tanks still stuck, with the towed vehicles still there. "If only Mako was here!"

From beyond the red smoke, as if like that, a tank appeared behind Jasmine team. Several tanks, with a white shield and a logo of what school they belonged to.

"Hey, its Saunders!" Sodoko cried out. "Saunders is right behind us with their tanks!"

Sure enough, the good ol' reliable tanks of Saunders came up the road from the south bocage. They slowed a bit as if assessing the situation, then Kay from atop her cupola made quick orders with her hand motions towards the other tanks. The M4 Shermans in the group came up and behind the tanks that were immobile. They propelled forwards, pushing the tanks out of their situation and giving the vehicles a boost to start the movement. The towed tanks moved and soon the towers were able to move the vehicles with the M4 Shermans behind them. Even the stucked vehicle like the P40 and the Semovente were forced along with a push.

" _H-hey gentle! I'm a delicate lady an- agh!_ " Anchovy could be heard shouting in the urgent movement of the M4 tanks.

" _Oh shut it, we're saving your lives here!_ " Alisa shouted.

They pushed them far enough that when an incoming shell finally hit the position of the red smoke, it hit only the red smoke and nothing more.

" _Looks like you girls were in quite a pickle!"_ Kay said with relief through the radio.

"Kay~!" The girls shouted in relief. "You saved us!"

Kay only gave a big smile and a peace sign above her cupola. "It's too dangerous to try and fix the tanks out here, move them into the town!"

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, inside perimeter, France**

The shelling stopped after the smoke finally scattered.

"That was rough…" Katyusha noted. Such a weird tactic for Suvorov to take pride in, using infantry to signal artillery location. Though masking their actual field of movement in attacking the enemy on the sides was something she could get into.

Was there anything else in store for them? Katyusha got onto the radio. "Hey, Klara?"

" _Yes?"_ Klara replied.

"Spill it for me. We know you have a good idea of the people in Suvorov, any idea on what else they plan to do?"

" _I-I'm not sure,_ " Klara came back.

"Klara. Think deep-down, any ideas from your time in Russia that was like common teaching there?"

" _I-"_ Klara's voice stopped.

"Klara…?" Katyusha tried to dig into her. "Are you hiding anything?"

" _No, I would never. But…"_

"Klara, anything from their teaching there? Anything?" Katyusha was eager for anything at this point.

Klara paused again, her radio silent. After a moment, she came back, " _Maskirovka."_

"Maski-wha?" Katyusha said.

" _Maskirovka,"_ Darjeeling said. " _Military deception, except on a practical operational level instead of the usual concealment…_ "

" _Does Suvorov practice that doctrine?_ " Nonna asked.

" _Y-yes,"_ Klara said.

" _In that case, we have to assume everything they've done so far is a farce for a bigger attack…_ " Nonna said.

" _Wait, so… where does that put us?_ " Nina said from her KV-2.

" _One of the components of Maskirovka is feint attacks…_ " Nonna said. " _In that case, all that T-34 tanks we fought…_ "

"Are you suggesting that they were all decoys?" Katyusha shouted. "But we eliminated so many of them!"

" _Indeed, we knocked out a lot. But is that very many in relative to us or for them?_ "

"In that case, then that attack on the west must be a bigger thrust!" Katyusha shouted. "This sector seemed clear and we should reinforce that area and-"

A loud rev of an engine sounded down the road as though an army was about to descend on the group. The hedgerow in front of the main road tore apart from the force of a tank propelling right through, the pike nose in front assisting in this anti-hedgerow action.

And that tank was the problem in front of them.

"NOT CLEAR, NOT CLEAR!"

A 122 mm shell blasted right past her from the tank, smacking right into the KV-2 and taking it out right there and then.

* * *

 **Southwest side of town, France**

Saunders and the remnants of Jasmine moved closer to the main road as they attempted to return to the main road.

"Kay, what happened to the rest of Dandelion?" Anchovy asked.

"We got beat up on the way back," Kay said. "A whole group of tanks pounced us! T-34, assault guns, and IS tanks! I swear there were some KV in there as well, which was weird…"

"Chi-Ha-Tan got wiped out too?"

"I don't know, they tailed off to the west somewhere and now I'm not too sure where they are."

"What about Naomi?"

"Same thing, though she went off to deal with a sniper around the area."

"Hope they're alright."

"Yeah… but for now I need to make sure you girls are all alright."

"Things have really gone downhill for us, hasn't it?" Anzu said.

"Looks like it, but we just need to consolidate."

"Yeah, look there's the turn."

The open main road looked inviting to the group towing the tanks in. Over the incessant screeching and dragging of the stucked tank suspensions, it was one more path to someplace safe.

"Doesn't look like Suvorov passed by here yet." Kay said. "I'll cover the path in, take the tanks in girls."

Kay's M4A3E2 sped ahead of the convoy and slowed as it reached the intersection between the main road and the perimeter road. No tanks in sight, the M4A3E2 turned and faced the road down to the bocage, giving the signal to Jasmine to continue moving behind her tank.

The tanks moved in a crawl as it commenced, Kay anxiously watched as the tanks crawled by. The 76 mm gun aligned itself down the road.

"Loader, prepare to load HVAP," Kay said. The gun breech currently had a standard AP round, but the loader made a mental note on the next round selection.

Good thing too, as soon a Suvorov tank appeared down the road, turning into the main road several hundred meters away.

"Here they come!" Kay shouted, alerting the group to the incoming tanks. "Gunner, fire at target!"

"On the way!" Her gunner shouted and the 76 mm cracked off a shot.

The round trailed and simply ricocheted off the front glacis.

"Ricochet! That's no T-34 alright!" Kay shouted. It really wasn't, this design was a lot sleeker than a T-34 tank, not to mention a lot lower too even though it used a similar T-34 turret design. The enemy tank responded by pausing, and firing a round. The 85 mm round similarily bounced right off the M4A3E2 Jumbo tank. Kay wondered if their crew were also going about saying 'That's no Sherman!'

"HVAP up!" The loader cried.

"Gunner, fire again!"

"Right!" The 76 mm rang again. However, even the HVAP rounds zipped off the front glacis. The gunner seemed stunned as well. "What kind of tank is that?! That sloped armor is messing with the tungsten!"

Kay brought up a binocular and took a look. "By all gosh, it's a T-44!"

"T-44?!"

"We ain't getting through that front glacis, aim for the turret!"

The gunner adjusted as another shell hit smack right on the turret front armour. A concussive _*KLANG*_ sounded right off, throwing Kay off balance from the cupola down into the turret. "God damn!" She cried as she got back up.

"Commander! More tanks coming up!" Her gunner cried. She looked up and saw three more T-44 medium tanks arrive. All aligned their guns towards the lone M4A3E2 tank and fired. The volley battered the front armour and Kay heard a sickening shatter of metal on the lower side.

 _Did they get our track too?!_ Kay thought. "Driver, reverse!"

Sure enough, the M4A3E2 instead reversed to the side rather than straight back. "Kay, we our track's busted!"

"Back to position!" Kay shouted, aligning the front armor straight rather than leaving the more exposed side armor present.

But the tank was immobile and the T-44 were making a bee-line inwards.

"This isn't looking good!" Her bow machine gunner cried.

"Up!" The loader shouted.

"Gunner, fire at the turret!"

"Right, on the way!" She shouted as the 76 mm fired once more. The shell struck, just almost though, and simply ricocheted off the sliver of turret roof present. They came in at high speed.

"Loader, load now!" The crew shouted frantically as the T-44 dashed in.

"Its coming!" The gunner shouted as the T-44 was only less than hundred meters out.

"Can't do it!"

"Shit!"

Then a loud crash sounded down the alley. A Type 97 tank appeared miraculously from a small road inside the hedgerow and had charged onto the lead T-44. The force pushed the T-44 to a turn and angled itself while the Type 97 found itself in an inelastic collision by sticking towards the T-44. The two sides, shocked once more by the appearance of a Chi-Ha-Tan tank, looked momentarily before acting.

"Gunner, hit it now!" Kay shouted before a shot from the hedgerow struck the T-44 turret side armor. The shot echoed across the hedgerow in stunning fashion.

"I recognize that muzzle blast," Kay said. "Naomi!"

The thought was broken when the Chi-Ha tank that charged at the T-44 was then shot down by the following T-44. However, it played its part and the path was now blocked with the two disabled tanks.

"Wow… recovery team take your time with that!" Kay thought, then she sprung on the opportunity. "Let's fix the tracks now!"

"Right!" Her crew shouted.

"Gunner, fire smoke for cover!" Kay shouted as she and her bow machine gunner got out and went to work.

The 76 mm gun fired an M88 WP shell out and soon the path was full of concealing grey smoke. Kay quickly got to work as her crew grabbed tools for quick replacement.

Continuation's KV-1 crawled up from behind.

"I got you girls covered!" Janne shouted from atop.

"What about the towing?!" Kay shouted back, remembering the KV-1 was towing the StuG III.

"Left it to one of your Shermans, their more reliable than this Prava bugger."

 _If you don't like it you should give it back then…_ Kay thought as she set off to work.

"Only sheared the track from the front, we're good so far," Kay shouted.

"Tanks appearing from the fog!" Janne shouted. Kay looked up in alert as Naomi's Firefly and the remaining two tanks of Chi-Ha-Tan emerged.

"Thanks out there!" Kay shouted.

"It's not looking good," Naomi said. "Suvorov has obtained operational superiority in the hedgerows, they have the whole south side to play with in force movement."

"I know, I've been considering that when I made the decision to withdraw."

"Not only that, I think they still have a whole deck of cards to play with on us here."

"That's why we're all gathered, so we can make the most of our numbers, right?"

"Let's hope we're not digging our own traps here."

However, the sound of chaos continued on the east as the fighting escalated there. Down in the hedgerow road with the T-44, the grinding of metal sounded as though the tanks were pushing through.

"Better hurry…"

* * *

 **Southeast side of town, France**

" _The line is falling!_ " Was the sentence that made Darjeeling drop her tea cup. Orange Pekoe and Assam looked back at their commander's stunned face.

Like a hammer, Suvorov continually pounded on the metal that was Ōarai, but that metal had become wood and it is smacking through. The KV-2 was toast with a white-flag on top and their resistance was not helping.

" _The 88 mm is not working!_ " Leopon said as they kept firing futilely. Their rounds went into the fray and simply bounced off. The powerful 88 mm was useless.

Even Nonna's IS-2 with the 122 mm D-25T gun couldn't stem the tide. She fired one shot and knocked out an attacking assault gun, but now she had to reload and was effectively out for the moment.

The 85 mm may as well have been door knockers now, with the new door that Suvorov is crashing through.

The IS-2 heavy tank and assault guns were no big menace, it's been dealt with before. The problem laid in the heavy tank taking center stage of this fiasco. The Iosef-Stalin 3.

The IS-3 with its piked nose armor and rounded dome turret was effectively impervious in the front. Rounds simply plinked off the front hull, ricocheting off accordingly with the pike nose direction. What more, its speed for its class. Despite these armor protection, it only weighed 48 tons, only a tad bit more than the IS-2 and even the German Panther tanks.

But its accuracy was on point as well, almost unnaturally so. Upon revealing itself from the hedgerow, it quickly dispatched the KV-2 tank, throwing out the rulebook of tank gunnery in it actions.

And like a pike, it speared ahead, breaking through the lines. Katyusha and Klara's T-34 were forced to withdraw into the alleys they were using as cover. They laid in wait for the tanks to pass by and shoot them in the sides, instead they simply leveled the buildings around the alley! The 122 mm and 152 mm made short work of the buildings and the rubbles isolated Katyusha and Klara in their own regions.

All that was left was the Black Prince, Tiger (P), and the IS-2 in front of them.

With that and the enemy tanks coming up on the west, resistance was wavering.

Oh and how frustrating it was too! The defense was broken by this monstrous tank that just so happen to be Suvorov's flag tank.

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

The sound outside was in pandemonium. The explosions drawing nearer and nearer. A few stray shells already hit the church building, sending bits of rubbles down.

"Hey, hey… what's going on out there?!" Rosehip said nervously.

Miho laid a bit and decided to get up.

"M-Miporin, wait a moment!" Saori shouted as Miho climbed back up to her commander seat to the radio. She winced at the pain on her abdomen, but it wasn't as bad as it was before.

She dialed in the radio, "E-everyone, what's going on?"

" _Miho Nishizumi! She's back!_ " A cry came out.

"Nishizumi-dono…" Yukari stared up to Miho. She snapped herself back together. "Everyone, back to position!"

Hana and Saori scrambled about back to their crew positions.

"So she's back?" Rosehip said, though with a worried face more than a hopeful one.

"Y-yeah," Yukari said out of her turret hatch.

"Better hope she's alright."

Rosehip ran back out to her Cromwell and got back onto the radio dispatch.

"Commander!" Her crew called out as she put the mic piece back on.

" _-and the enemy is flanking around to the left side!_ " The latest transmission just ended with Katyusha. " _Honestly, what are we suppose to do?!"_

" _E-everyone calm down,"_ Miho said. " _Continue regrouping back here in the town. We'll fight them out one by one. I need someone to get a good shot on that IS-3 flanks! Ow..._ "

" _Are you alright, Miho?"_

" _I'm f-fine… ergh."_ The radio went, " _Nishizumi-dono, please rest! I- No! I'm fine, Yukari!"_

Rosehip sighed as she put the radio down. Outside she heard the scraping of metal as tanks were dragged over the ground. She looked and saw tanks from Jasmine company taken down into the depression of the plaza, dragged or pushed by M4 Shermans. They plopped in a stop right there in the center of plaza, all 10 tanks there.

"This can't end well." Rosehip muttered, the ten tanks in shambles.

* * *

 **Southwest side of town, France**

"Track fixed!" Kay shouted as she climbed back up the tall M4A3E2 sides. "Reverse!"

The M4A3E2 started its way back right as the smoke in the path dissipated. The rest of Jasmine company had made their way back and now they could move back. The T-44 were still stuck behind the downed T-44 and Type 97 Chi-Ha. Their guns struggled to poke around the rummage and fire.

Then to the right of the perimeter road, two T-34-85 popped up and aimed their turrets.

"Janne, to the right!" Kay quickly alerted the KV-1.

The heavy tank quickly angled as the 85 mm fired. The first 85 mm glanced off the turret of the KV-1, the second hit the right side of the KV-1 at an angle, smacking right on but the KV-1 stuttered on.

The Continuation crew frantically shouted and the turret aligned towards the T-34 and fired. The slower 76.2 mm round flew over and simply smacked on the turret of one T-34 with no effect. Kay also aimed the M4A3E2 turret towards the T-34s.

Something went flying forward from her rear and landed in front of her tank. She quickly looked back and saw another Suvorov infantryman ducking back to cover, having thrown the item.

The item went _*POOF*_ and started to emit ... purple smoke?

"Oh this again," Kay sighed. "Back up!"

" _Go ahead!_ " Janne cried. "I'll cover you!"

Naomi and Kay backed up out of this situation, with the KV-1 following. For good measure, Kay's M4A3E2 shot a smoke round towards the T-34's direction to blind them, as well as another towards the T-44 direction. The grey smoke help silhouette the purple smoke that was pouring out of the canister.

They reversed through the main road. "Alright, we'll go back and regroup with the others!" Kay said.

" _Miho was back on the line a while ago,"_ Naomi said, " _There's trouble on the east with an IS-3 tank and needs help."_

"How exactly are we supposed to deal with that!?" Kay shouted. If their 76 mm can't adequately deal with the T-44, what hope did they have against the IS-3?

Then from the KV-1, a blast sounded on its right as they were passing by a smaller intersection on the main road in the town. The white-flag of the KV-1 then popped up.

"Damn!" Janne shouted out loud from atop the KV-1.

From the intersection, a T-34-85 popped up.

"Son of a-, they're already in the town!" Kay shouted. "Towards our 2 o'clock!"

The two Sherman tanks commenced firing.

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

" _We're being overrun! Falling back!"_

" _Enemy tanks in the town! They're closing in!"_

" _Our tanks are broke! We can't fix it in time!"_

The transmissions came in as Miho tried to coordinate this failing defense.

"I- wait, Please-" Miho could see everything crumbling like sand through a hand. She could try to keep it intact, but it was all falling in bits.

Outside the church interior where they have stayed, the fighting drew closer and closer. The other tanks were forced in as Suvorov pushed in. This was their major thrust and they were milking it all their worth in.

"Please everyone! Group up in the plaza!" Miho ordered out.

" _No shit!"_ Some girls replied. Soon some tanks rolled into the plaza in reverse state as they fired off rounds and round, following by simply a _*plink*_ or a _*crack*._

Miho could hear the sound of an 88 mm firing outside the church to the southeast. Then followed with a _*BWAK-CLANG-KABOOM*_ and the 88 mm turned silent.

On the west, or her right, she heard the sound of 76 mm guns blasting away at an enemy coming in from there. Their sound became puny when the loud large-caliber noises of the 85 mm thundered through, and slammed into a poor tank.

Then in the center, girls frantically went to work trying to fix their tanks in what they hoped to be a safe place. It was anything but safe, they were about to be overrun and the tanks with casemate structures can't do a thing about it.

Before she knew it, all of Ōarai Compound Team tank were boxed in the town plaza. Their backs against a wall, the whole town had become a trap of a city. A Stalingrad, or maybe even a Berlin.

Tanks surrounded the arena that was the plaza, filling in the many roads that led to the one place. It was unbelievable, despite the many reported losses they had in the initial encounter, there seemed to be so many Suvorov tanks in all location.

Maskirovka, if that was their intent, this was the result.

"N-no, not yet…" Miho shivered. "This can't be…" She could see Suvorov gun barrels outside, pointing towards the mass of tanks that made up inside the plaza.

Miho thought about the situation. Was there any miracle that could happen? No, there wasn't any ferris wheels for something like that again. Was there anything she could've done to save this situation? No, there wasn't any point in looking back now, because the only way forwards is in the future.

But all she could see is total annihilation.

" _Sister!"_ She cried out as the guns started firing.

It was thunderous, bombastic, the shells flew everywhere. Cracking buildings, destroying the greens, and exploding everywhere! The church building shook as it came under bombardment of shells of all caliber. Any shots from Ōarai tanks were drowned out under this mess.

Then the bombardment stopped.

Was her team all destroyed? Was she and Rabbit team here the only ones left?

The radio came alive. _"Uh… so did I go deaf, or… did Suvorov stopped firing?"_ Kay asked.

" _They're still there watching…_ " Alisa said.

Miho got up from her tank cupola.

"Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari called out as Miho climbed out of the tank and onto the floor.

She felt pain still on her abdomen, but she moved on towards the church entrance. She peeked outside and saw, indeed, the guns have stopped firing but the Suvorov tanks stood there like statues. In the midst of all the vapor of gunfire, she could see something shoot into the sky, a red smoke flare shot straight up coming from the town's southeast.

Then a green smoke flare followed, pointing in the opposite direction towards the south. Moments later, by miracle, the Suvorov tanks reversed.

"Eh? Eeehh? They're falling back?!" Some of the girls cried out.

It was hard to believe it, but it was true. One by one the Suvorov tanks withdrew from their positions back where they came from.

"But...why?" Azusa from Rabbit team asked.

Miho didn't know, but she collapsed right there next to the floor as she breathed heavily. She felt something deep inside her that was nearly snuffed out, some sliver of hope remained.

* * *

 **T'was a doozy.**

 **I'll just flat out say it, I'm not positive I can finish this story before whenever "Der Finale" comes out. Oh well, that happens I guess. I mean, I am one month late to the year anniversary since publishing this story, so... yeah.**

 **However, I do hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I did because we're reaching the rising action of this battle.**

 **As for Chapter 25. I felt it was a bit unpolished and confirmed that with another reread, so I went about polishing it and making the action flow better. Plus I was considering the whole "infantry vs. tank" thing I introduced and I must admit I thought it was a bit BS the way I first implemented it after reading a review. It was an** _ **interesting**_ **concept, but it didn't really fit the whole Sensha-dou or Tankery thing very well so I got rid of the first version. I think this new version where I put infantry as a kind of auxiliary force in a tank-focused sport rather than the initial primary one fits the meta better. I mean, the girls still go on foot for roles like recon in the anime, so there was a place in the sport that infantry can work as.**

 **Anyways, we're moving on as usual. Got lots of my ideas in my head, even got several in a GuP-related way, but I won't go further than idea-forming until this is finished. Thanks for reading, feel free to drop a** _ **review**_ **or even** _ **following**_ **me for the next update! After all, how else are you suppose to get that sense of pride and accomplishment of reading someone else's work?** ( **/s** luv u all)

 **Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans!**

 **Also, I'm not sure if I ever brought it up, but isn't anyone annoyed that the very top titles of each chapter is offsetted by the chapter selection button?**


	27. Regroup! Another Chance!

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 27: Regroup, Another Chance!**

 **Center of town, France**

"Get those tracks fixed now!" Momo cried out in the lull of the fighting. "Now! Now! Now!"

"Momo, please help out at least…" Yuzu said as she handled a track block for their Jagdpanzer 38(t).

The pause from Suvorov's withdrawal was an opportunity, not a break, and so the girls of the StuG III Ausf. F, Jagdpanzer 38(t), P 26/40, and the Semovente swiftly worked to get their broken tracks fixed.

For the other girls keeping watch, found the new suspense unnerving.

"What's going on?" Some asked.

"Did we get them?" Those unaware asked.

"Where's Ms. Nishizumi?!" Those concerned asked.

Miho remained collapsed at the church door on her knees as the rest of Anglerfish caught up.

"Miporin! Don't strain yourself!" Saori called out towards her as she and the others put her in a rest position on the ground.

She was hard at breath, the stress of the situation and her condition exacerbated the feeling. The situation flux was hard to comprehend on what this meant for Ōarai.

"Ms. Nishizumi?" Kinuyo said from the doorway. "What should we do now, ma'am?!"

"M-make sure everyone is combat ready..." Miho gasped out.

"Roger!" Nishi replied as energetically as ever as she ran back out. Miho collapsed again.

"Miho, is your condition getting worse?" Hana asked.

"I just keep feeling this... feeling down here..." Miho pointed towards right under her right breast, wincing as her hand hovered around the area.

"Is it painful?" Mako asked.

"I... It was first, but I don't think that's the word I'd use now..."

"Hey Miho?" Kay's voice echoed as she made herself known inside the church. "We have two Russian dudes outside under a white flag and uh... well there's a bit of a language barrier."

"Let me out there," Miho said. Her friends reluctantly helped her up and out the church as she watched the scene.

The team was in an unorganized mess in the plaza. The several combat-capable tanks keeping watch could be counted with fingers, the rest are in various other states of unreadiness, especially the ones that are repairing their tracks.

Right between Leopon and Kay's M4A3E2 (76) W tank were two Suvorov members. Their difference in stature had an indication of seniority, if it wasn't for the uniforms. The one on the left, the taller one, had a red gilded rank patch on his gymnastyorka uniform while the other had the familiar bland yellow uniform with no bling nor flair, but carries the large white flag of truce.

Two Saunder girls were keeping them from approaching any further into inspecting the tanks, but the senior kept talking in Russian that no one understood. Miho stumbled towards the scene as she regain strength in her legs.

"What's going on?" Miho asked as she entered the conversation.

"Oh, Lege-, I mean Ms. Nishizumi," One of the Saunder girls replied. Miho recognized her from the training on Ōarai that called her by that nickname. "These guys are-"

The Suvorov member interrupted with his language which Miho couldn't understand. Next to the man, the junior holding the white flag rolled his eye at this language barrier.

"W-where's Nonna and Klara?" Miho asked Kay.

"We don't know, I'll look again. Nonna! Klara!" Kay shouted out loud.

The junior finally spoke in English, "We thought you had Russian interpreters at hand."

"замолчи ученица!" The senior chastised as he maintained his height advantage over the junior, the latter did not budge.

"I can speak English too," Miho said.

The senior looked back, sighed, then spoke a few words to the junior. "Our commander wishes to relay a message to the Ōarai commander!" The junior then presumably translated with an authoritative voice.

At the same time, a crowd was drawing by Miho Nishizumi as the delegation between the team started.

"He wants to say he is quite disappointed with your overall performance in this battle! Especially with the stakes on hand for you, he expected better!"

Miho flinched on that announcement. Besides her, she could feel Kay give her a funny eye of curiosity.

The senior continued to speak for the junior to announce. "He does not wish for it to end this way! He wants to offer a three hour ceasefire for both of us to regroup our forces! In this time, there will be no open conflict as we reorganize! If you truly think this is hopeless for your cause, you are also free to withdraw from the competition in this time period!"

"Who does he think we are!?" Some girls cried in the crowd.

"You are also free to cut the cease-fire short by instigating an attack on our forces!" The junior continued. "This cease-fire will start on the conclusion of our delegation."

Before any of the girls could reply, the two men were already on their way out through the main road out of the town.

"A cease-fire?" Some girls asked for confirmation.

"Disappointed in our performance?! How dare they!" A girl from St. Gloriana's Cromwell crew spoke out.

"What should we do now, ?"

Miho wallowed in her thoughts on that announcement.

"Hey, Miho," Kay approached Miho. "What does he mean by 'stakes on hand'? What's going on here?"

Miho wearily turned her head towards Kay, before she collapsed again.

"Hey! Miho!" Kay caught her. "Damnit, someone get a doctor up here already!"

* * *

The Mi-26MS helicopter landed in a patch of land made open in the plaza, its ramp opens to reveal a mini-hospital. All set up with partitions set up via curtains. Miho found herself in one as a local medical professional examined Miho.

"Does it hurt when I press here?" The physician asked during the examination as she pressed on Miho's wounded area with her gloved hands.

"Yeah..." Miho winced, it felt...

"What kind of pain?"

"Like raw numbing feeling, spreading out around," Miho explained.

"Mmm, how about anything piercing? Like poking?

"No, no it doesn't feel like that," Miho assured.

"Mmokay," She said as she took off her gloves, meanwhile contemplating on the possible conditions. "So from the sounds of it, you don't have anything broken in there."

 _Oh thank god,_ Miho sighed a breath a relief.

"But I can't confirm unless we get an X-ray done. You definitely have something damaged inside, be it as tame as bruising to a light case of internal bleeding. I highly recommend getting checked in at a hospital right now for an examination."

"Thank,, but I can't leave my team." Miho said earnestly, the physician understandably nodded back.

"Very well. Try not to agitate that area. If it isn't so serious, it should recover in the next few days. I do recommend checking yourself in after the match."

"Okay! If you excuse me," Miho adjusted her uniform as she started her leave. She found herself back in the fuselage of the [helicopter], its construction and size is enough to forget that it was just a helicopter interior, not that of a room.

As she disembarked the [helicopter], the wind picked up as the rotor blades started up. Outside, Miho saw her team waiting outside in anticipation.

"Are you alright?!" The team said in near unison.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine!" Miho said quickly to dissuade the crowd. "They said its nothing too serious." _In fact, it's starting to feel better after that diagnosis,_ Miho thought. _A placebo effect?_

She walked out to the crew's delight. Behind the hard workers inside the tanks, the team leaders stood steady with a sour look on their face.

 _Uh oh_ , Miho thought as she walked through. "Uh, everyone. Please get back to your tanks and make sure their combat ready!"

"Why? Aren't we in a cease-fire?" Someone asked as Miho passed by.

"Well, there you are! Miss Miho Nishizumi," Kay said in a forceful tone, she doesn't sound pleased, which is very easy to determine with her daily hyper self. Nearly all the commander and vice-commanders are present. Darjeeling stood nearby without a tea cup, with Rosehip, Orange Pekoe, and Assam eyeing curiously at the situation. Kinuyo and Fukuda also stood there, but she looks as if she was dragged along with the crowd than with any malicious intent. In between them were Anzu and Katyusha, Katyusha's face is filled with guilt, another unusual face to see on the team leaders. Nonna and Klara were nowhere to be seen.

"Uh, hello. Is there something?" Miho asked nervously.

"We need to talk," Kay said as she approached. "What's the jig here? There's something else going on with this tournament, isn't there?"

"Uh, I…" Miho said, moving about to ease off Kay.

"I had Katyusha spill some of the beans, but she won't tell me everything." Kay ruffled Katyusha's hair. Katyusha's eyes pleaded for forgiveness. "What's this about the Suvorov deal, huh?" Kay was getting up to her face.

"Listen, I uh," Miho backed up until she found herself on the hull side of her Panzer IV. As she shifted to the side, Kay used her arm in a kabedon fashion and shocked Miho into place.

"What's going on?" Yukari ran up from the crowd into the fray as the leaders ganged on Miho.

"What's going on Miho Nishizumi? What are you hiding?"

"What are you doing? She doesn't need to say-"

"You stay out of this fluff hair!" Kay spoke up. "What are you hiding from all of us, Miho Nishizumi? Why is it only you and Katyusha know about it?"

Miho's hands fidget together as she contemplated the situation.

"Tell us, Miho!"

* * *

 **Spectator Stand, France**

" _So, we're half an hour into this Suvorov-initiated ceasefire,"_ Anderson spoke on the announcement. _"A report from the medical personnel on site stated that Ōarai commander wishes to continue the fight! So we won't see any premature ending here!"_

" _Power to them, Anderson. It would've been a shame to see them end right here right there like that. But let's be honest here, we saw this cease-fire coming from eons away as soon as they surrounded them, Katukov is known for that._ " George continued.

" _With that topic, George, with Ōarai being your new go to team after their victory over the 3rd cadets, how do you see them getting out of this predicament?_ "

"Well, that's done," The German commander stood up from the seat.

"Whot?" John Montgomery reacted as he saw the Axel Kraus stood up.

"It's all over from here. There's no way our little sideshow, Miho Nishizumi, can get out of this little 'situation' here."

"Aw come on, mate," Montgomery said. "Just because your army couldn't get out of, uh," John then counted off his fingers, "Stalingrad, Falaise, Minsk, Ruhr, and… uh, Berlin! That doesn't mean that Nishizumi couldn't break out of this encirclement."

Kraus scoffed, "It does not matter, I have invested too much time into this. There is a match tomorrow to prepare for, I'll be off now."

"You'll be missing quite a show!" Daniel Marshall shouted to the leaving man, then under his breath, "Ya little kraut…"

"Argh, that guy is such an ass!" Emma grunted. "How is he the face of Tankery here? I mean, he's a disrespectful flying piece of c-"

"A-hem," Hans Wittman coughed loudly as he stared towards the blasphemous girl from speaking any more. Emma stared in stunned silence before looking back at John, which he simply expressed a body language of "your fault."

"Umm… excuse me," Emma sheepishly said.

Wittman altered his gaze back to the screen. He has made no noticeable movement since arriving for the match. He has taken off his overcoat for the standard black uniform underneath with his black M43 cap. His brown belt contrasting on the black uniform showed a mighty holster strapped on his front right side, housing his revolver.

"You're not following your commander?" John spoke at the boy.

"There is no need," Wittman spoke dryly and slowly, his hands clasping around the words as they were produced. "Our match tomorrow is only towards Southern Europe,".

"Wait, how far is that?" Daniel asked, but more towards the group than directly to Wittman. "European travel is so weird! The time it takes to drive from Cali to Nevada, I'd be in Berlin by now here!"

"Daniel, jus… please," Isabelle said as Daniel let his mouth run free.

"I can be there in... a couple of hours," Wittman answered nonchalantly without batting an eye away from the screen.

Emma was the next to attempt a conversation. "You seem very interested in Nishizumi's performance, unlike Kraus. What's got you sticking your nose in?"

"There's... a lot you can learn from your opponent," Wittman explained "just by watching their moves. For my unternehmen to win, I must be one step ahead for my battalion... "

"Alright, Imma gonna have to stop you right there," Daniel interrupted. " _Your_ battalion?"

"Yes."

"Yours, as in you _own_ it."

"Yes, it is called 'Wittmann Battalion'. What is so weird about it?" Wittman asked, as if this is some extraordinary thing these people haven't heard about.

Meanwhile, Daniel seemed ready to burst in laughter. "Dammmn dude, you that big of a cheese at home? Got your own battalion for you?"

Wittmann scratched his nape, around where his hair grew to."It is, umm, not really a battalion actually," Wittman muttered, twiddling his hands. "It is only a platoon. They only call is that name in the newspapers."

Daniel was definitely laughing now as Isabelle tried to control her loud-mouthed commander. John took the next interest. "'Wittmann battalion', huh? So you appear on the newspaper often?"

"Yes," Wittmann replied.

"Well, alright then Mr. Wittmann. But, here's the thing, why haven't I heard of you all this time before? If you're famed enough to have your own 'unit' I'm certain I would've heard your name before on the news or television. Tell me Mr. Wittman, why is it all this time, I've never heard of you from the Tankery media, who only talks about your commander Kraus?"

"Perhaps you've just been looking at the wrong news," Wittman suggested.

"Yes, maybe we should subscribe to the German papers, huh?" Emma asked. Wittman just shrugged. "Interesting piece of work, ain'tcha?"

Wittman returned to his attendance of the screen while the other commanders are left contemplating on what they've just heard. Daniel with an incredulous laughter, Isabelle with indifference, and Emma and Montgomery started to sprout a curiosity.

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

Miho explained everything.

She told them how her sister has been missing since the tournament started. How the mystery has been crushing since she had no communication with her for the better part of a month.

She also told them about the stake against Suvorov, how they allegedly know what happened to her sister and the Kuromorimine school carrier.

"So that's how it is…" Darjeeling said softly.

"Wow, uh, you have it harsh, don't you?" Kay spoke.

"I'm so sorry…" Miho said with repent. "I'm not suited to be the commander. There's too much on hand for me to continue unbiased."

"That's not true, Nishzumi-dono. You-"

"You should know, Yukari," Miho interjected. "I put my desire to win over everything else, and now we're stuck in this situation because of my hubris. I'm not qualified to continue leading this team."

The team leaders looked between each other confusingly on that remark. Kay let out a heavy sigh, breaking the silence.

"And what makes you think anyone else are more qualified?" Kay spoke her input. "You don't actually expect any of us to do the same things you can do, do you?"

"It's true we got into quite a predicament," Darjeeling said. "But you better than any of us know how to put a reversal on this situation."

"Our style of sensha-dou has always been for the spirit of fun and entertainment," Anchovy chimed in, "but this high-stake game isn't in our league."

"I'm confident in the spirit of Chi-Ha-Tan!" Nishi explained, which garnered a few funny looks from the other members. "But...we've never been able to win without Ms. Nishizumi at the helm…"

"Tch, it's not like this is nothing you've seen before. Look at what I, the greatest tactician here, did to your team before you boldly run us over back a year ago!"

"Look around, Miho Nishizumi," Darjeeling said. "Notice your accomplishments. Look away from your one misstep and focus on everything you had right."

"That's right!" Kay pumped her arms in encouragement. "Our doctrines are nothing in this world of tankery. What we need is a commander fluent in its methods and execution to get us through. And it's not just your practice of the Nishizumi style that makes you best abled for this role, but your degree of adaptability in any situation to best exploit our abilities for the win!"

"Any commander can do that…" Miho countered.

"Any? I don't think so Nishizumi-dono," Yukari reinforced the argument's front. "Have you seen anyone else here able to change tactics quickly for the situation? Kay is always freely attacking, Darjeeling is slow and methodical, Katyusha exploits firepower and numbers, Anchovy does whatever she likes, and Nish's like a wild card for charging!"

"Umm, I-"

"The point is Miho Nishizumi," Darjeeling interrupted "Is that we all have our different quirks on how to conduct on the battlefield."

"Yeah! Just like in the match with Selection University, we coordinated our efforts to beat a team of Pershings. But even though we could've match with an entire team of Pravda tanks, we can't achieve that level of teamwork without a…" Katyusha took a deep breath, "...talented, strong-willed, dedicated commander…" it looked like it took effort from Katyusha to say it, "to lead all of us!"

"Girls, I-... I don't know what to say," Miho Nishizumi said.

"Don't worry about saying stuff," Kay said. "Command us. We still got a bit over two hours to make this right. Help us, help you, win this battle and get to your sister. We're all in this together, more than ever."

The sight of Kay's smile started to blur as Miho realized she was tearing up. She wiped a blob of liquid from her right eye.

"Ōarai's also got your side, Miho!" Anzu said, perhaps finding herself withdrawn from not being a team captain, but acted as a school representative. "You've saved our school multiple times! It's only fair we return the favor!"

Miho let out some nervous giggles as she tried to dissipate the emotions inside her swelling up. She sniffed a few times as she calmed down with deep breaths. "Thanks, everyone…"

Overhead from the Panzer IV Miho was backed up against, Anglerfish listened to the scene with wholesome hearts.

"Our Miporin is going to be fine," Saori said through the intercoms.

"She has such a strong heart and mind," Hana remarked.

"Never doubted her," Mako said with a smile.

"That's the spirit Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari cried out in encouragement, which Miho blushed under. "What's our next move?!"

Miho swelled in her heart, "Give me a status report on our team. I want to know everyone who is still in this match, their condition, their tanks, damages, if they're hungry, all that. I also want a report on all suspected enemy vehicles and tactics! I want this all within the next 20 minutes!"

"Copy that!" All the team leaders say as they dispersed. Miho sighed a breath of relief as she regained her personal space.

"Really inspirational out there, Ms. Nishizumi," Hana said poking out the turret hatch.

Miho smiled, "Oh you girls are all always a handful."

It took a little less than the 20 minutes Miho called for before everyone was ready to present their findings.

"Everyone, please meet with me inside the church building!" Miho told the team captains.

The report was compiled and an operational map was laid out on the ground as an impromptu strategic meeting was made.

"So from what I'm hearing," Miho said to the circle of team captains gathered around. "Is that we have 21 tanks left. My Panzer IV, Rabbit's M3, Turtle's Hetzer, Mallard's B1, and Hippo's StuG from Ōarai. Three M4 76 mm, a Jumbo, and a Firefly from Saunders. A Black Prince, Churchill 7, and two Cromwells from St. Gloriana. Two T-34-85 and an IS-2 from Pravda. A P 26/40 and a Semovente from Anzio, and a Chi-Ha and Ha-Go from Chi-Ha-Tan. Is this right?"

The team captains agreed on this arrangement.

 _So we still have some semblance of firepower,_ Miho thought. _The 85 mm and 122 mm have good stopping power on their own, the 17-pounder and 76 mm can reach parity with high-velocity ammunition._ "What about the enemy formation?" Miho asked.

"Well, we know now that they've got themselves a platoon's worth of T-44s," Kay said.

"With one loss!" Nishi proudly stated, thanks to the effort of one of her tank crew.

"Right, one lost T-44," Kay corrected herself, "but there's still a whole lot of self-propelled guns."

"SU-85?" Anchovy asked.

"Let's talk 122 and 152 millimeters," Katyusha responded, to which Anchovy gulped. "Not only that, but they made them an organic part of their tactics."

"Excuse me, but what does that mean?" Nishi asked, raising her hand.

"It means they've got them integrated into their overall battle plan," Kay explained. "Bastards got a more solid combined-arms maneuver than the yanks did."

Darjeeling concurred, "Their infantry usage has been limited to two manuvres. Anti-tank riflemen and spotters."

"And snipers too," Miho said as well. "Though the former two are their more frequent work. We can reduce the risk of their anti-tank rifles in this town, they don't have the concealment of the hedgerows here."

"What about the spotters?" Anchovy asked. "They're the ones directing those artillery fire on target."

"They've been doing it with smoke grenades," Miho held up a spent blue smoke grenade that was thrown at her tank early in the match. "There seems to be three color-coded signals being used: red, blue, yellow. I don't know what these colors mean, but they're most likely being directed towards individual artillery groups."

"So assuming the case, meaning we're dealing with at least three batteries of artillery vehicles…" Kay said.

"Darn" Katyusha scoffed, "and I thought America with their 105 mm M7 were bad."

"They've been using smoke this whole time, but we should consider that they might bring radios next time," Miho suggested.

"Wait, why didn't they bring radios the first time?" Kay asked.

"Manpower channeling," Darjeeling said. "All those knocked out T-34? Their crew left and they went to conduct their little war."

"Oh yeah!" Kay said in an eureka moment. "We have a phrase for something like that, 'Little Groups of Tankers'... or something like that."

"Quite so Kay. So if they came fresh from the T-34 tanks, they probably did not have time to take any radios, if they had any to begin with."

"So the more tanks we kill, the more we expand their foot soldiers," Nishi summed it up. "How nefarious."

"The only thing we can do is try to stop their effectiveness against us," Miho stated. "But Suvorov won't burst into the town with an infantry force, but armored one, and that's my next main concern with what Katyusha met."

"Yeah…" Katyusha agreed, "The Iosef-Stalin 3."

Miho grimaced at the thought of the beast. Back in Kuromorimine, the prospect of that machine in Pravda's hand was enough to even give the Tiger II tank crews a worry. It was the main reason why they invested so much in the Maus.

Pravda never did obtain the IS-3. There were a variety of deduced reasons why from Kuromorimine intelligence. First was the cost in the Sensha-dou market, with the IS-3 production limited and exclusive in Russia, it was hard to obtain one for Japan. Second was the rather troublesome driving mechanism due to contorted driving space, its very hard to make the most out of the tank. Third was the intensive maintenance care as the initial versions suffered from poor attachments of the automotive parts, with the engine able to rattle itself loose according to user reviews. It was more economical for the school to obtain the more numerable IS-2 for the students that retained the same firepower.

Still, that didn't stop Kuromorimine from obtaining a Maus.

Except now Miho didn't have a Maus at hand for this predicament.

"That IS-3 can take anything we throw in front of it," Katyusha spoke like a living encyclopedia on the piece. "Probably the only thing we had that could do real frontal damage was KV-tan's 152 mm, but the IS-3 knocked her out the first instance it showed itself."

"I'm sorry, the 'first instance' it showed itself?" Kay asked, followed with Katyusha's nod. "Like literally the moment it popped out it fired and destroyed a tank? You sure you're not mistiming that?"

"No!" Katyusha shouted her belief. "As soon as he popped out of that hedgerow over there at full speed, it blasted away at KV-tan just like that!"

"What does that IS-3 have? A D-25T2S? There's no way an IS-3 can make an hit like that!" Kay said in disbelief. "Even with the M4 Sherman's stabilizer, we're talking about a 60% hit rate."

"Either way," Darjeeling mediated between the two. "The point is that our problem vehicle, which happens to be the flag tank of the enemy team, has exhibited pin-point accuracy when moving at its maximum capacity while being protected in front armour thick enough to resist anything we have. So that begs the question, how do we destroy this tank?"

"Our strategy now is centered on taking out the IS-3," Miho summed up. "Even though our numbers and with Suvorov is roughly the same, we can't win from a a battle of attrition against their heavier firepower."

She pointed at the map in front of them. "Here's our position. We're in a major disadvantage in movements with Suvorov surrounding us in the bocages." With a pencil, she traced in arrows on all the major artery leading in and out the towns, with Miho pointing to each one of them. "They can move in from here, here, here, and here." The familiar roads on the north-west, north-east, south-east, and south-west were highlighted.

"We can defend with about five tanks per side?" Anchovy suggested.

"I disagree," Darjeeling said, "He who defend everything…"

"...defends nothing," Miho finished. "And Darjeeling's right, with only a limited amount of our tanks able to do real damage, splitting them up over the area will split our forces too thin. Suvorov probably has the same idea, they won't attack all four entryways at once, they'll plane for a concentrated attack."

"So what should we do then?" Kay asked.

"We'll have to draw them in," Miho said, "We have to make them attack through an area of our choosing."

"Where?"

Miho pointed to the south road arteries on the map. "We can channel the most firepower angles on these two areas, just like before!"

"How the hell are we suppose to make them do that? Making them attack the same place twice?" Anchovy asked.

"With their headstrong spirits, they'll definitely charge in to attack us at our strongest if we invest everything there!" Nishi shouted.

"No, we'll be making those positions the weakest," Katyusha said.

"Eeeh?!"

"She's right," Miho affirmed. "The Russians are not dumb. Their doctrine is not just envelopment, it's the aspect of Maskirovka. They are going to exploit our weaknesses. They did that already, we had our strong point in the south-east and so they kept us busy there… right as they send a company on our undefended left side."

She circled the north-east and north-west path. "So we have to make them think we're reinforcing these sectors instead. If they think we committed most of our forces up here, they will most likely strike from the south with all their might."

"That sounds great and all," Kay said. "But you're not planning on letting them just waltz in like that, right?"

"Yeah, we could position some units there as our forward guard with heavy AT power. But… they'll be carrying the whole match on their shoulders. It is unlikely we will be able to quickly shift our forces once we've committed them to each sectors. If and when Suvorov attacks through there, the opportunities they can use to get to their IS-3 will be crucial!"

"Really nerve-racking," Anchovy remarked. "We're treading a thin line here with this chance."

"'A single rice can tip a scale'" Darjeeling said, "One tank can be the difference between our victory and defeat."

Miho looked at the team captains. Their faces were apprehensive, but there was no disagreements. The situation was precarious, but they were all ready to do their part for Miho's win.

"Now then," the serious discussion was coming to a close, and Miho felt there was only one way to break the ice and equilibrate the team back to its own self. "an operation of this scale in the middle of the match, I believe warrants its own name."

Everyone's eyes beamed at this. Names started spouting out like a fountain.

"Operation Down Under!"

"Operation Tall Nose!"

"Operation Ice Cream Cone!"

"What, why?"

"You eat from the bottom!"

"WHAT?! YOU DO NOT!"

The argument got heated up as usual. As some squabbled over certain names, others kept them going until Miho heard one.

"Operation Stalagmite…. who said that?" Miho asked. Katyusha raised her hand. "I think we'll go with that one!"

"Operation Stalagmite it is then," Darjeeling said in agreement.

"Oh-kay!" Kay put out a thumbs up.

"Right-o then everyone!" Anchovy cheered as she put her hand out, "We're all in this together! Let's bring the team and Miho to victory!"

Miho chuckled as the team captains brought their hands together, putting hers on top. She no longer felt alone in this effort of hers against Suvorov. She has the backing of the team, more than ever. "Fight on!"

The girls cheered, laughed, and rumbled with their camaraderie as they began to dismiss, that was when one member became notably absent

"Hey, where's Mika?" Miho suddenly realized. "She's not out, is she?"

"Huh? No she's still in…" Anchovy said. "Only one left from her school though."

Miho kicked the ground as she rolled up the map, "I was a fool, I didn't even realize she was missing! Everyone, get your team ready to position yourself according to the plan! I'm gonna find Mika and brief her on Operation Stalagmite!" She looked at her watch, "we still have a hour and forty minutes!"

She made herself halfway out when Katyusha called for her, "Miho-sha!"

"What is it Katyusha?" Miho asked, looking down at the girl.

"I haven't seen Nonna and Klara, have you?"

Miho thought about it, "No?"

"They weren't knocked out from before either. I saw their tanks, but no one's seen them since the cease-fire."

"We'll look for them, Katyusha," Miho said reassuringly.

"Thanks Miho-sha."

 _First Mika, now Nonna and Klara? Where could they be?_ Miho thought on their absence. Their disappearance from the whole spiel was actually rather startling, Nonna wouldn't let Kay close of Katyusha like that before if she was around.

She passed by her Panzer IV, there was still time and there was more information needed to be had.

"How are you, Miporin" Saori said out of her hatch.

"Pretty fair, Saori," Miho replied with a smile.

"You have a new strategy to beat Suvorov, Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked.

"Yes we do! I'll tell you about it later. Right now I have an important task to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"I need some scouts in Suvorov's line so we know what they plan to throw at us when they start."

"Won't they view that as a form of attack?" Hana asked.

"Depends," Mako answered. "On how they'll take it. No one said scouting was exactly an 'attack.'"

"I agree, plus I have no doubt Suvorov has got some eyes watching us at this time. Can you do it, Yukari?"

"Nishizumi-dono, I spend a night crawling around Suvorov's base," Yukari exclaimed. "This is nothing! I'll do it!"

"Bring some extra eyes, and the machine pistol just in case!" Miho said, referring to the MP40. "I need to find someone now, so good luck!"

Miho waved off as she left. She got to her problem, the location of the missing girls. Mika should not be too hard, her whole crew is missing so maybe she was with her tank, a large white structure easily found.

But Nonna and Klara were out of their tanks as far as she knew. Finding a person in this town will prove difficult if they were among the buildings. Speaking of which, Miho was passing by the wreckage that was the south-east road where the major fighting of the first wave occurred. A good portion had been demolished from high caliber fire from the Suvorov artillery and assault guns. _So this landscape is easily destructible,_ Miho thought, keeping the landscape trait in mind.

The search around the area brought her to the familiar white and blue colors of Continuation's BT-42. It was in perfect shape, with the three crew members outside it. _Why are they all the way out here?_

"Mika!" Miho cried. Aki and Mikko turned their attention towards Miho, but Mika remained undisturbed. As Miho got closer, Aki and Mikko approached.

"Hello Miho," Mikko spoke up, "what's up?"

"Where were you girls this whole time? Why are you all the way out here?"

"We, uhh…" Aki stammered. "We were just refueling! You know, PLO? Yeah…"

"We were all gathered in the center, you didn't have to be out here. Mika missed our operation briefing!"

"Oh really? I, uh…"

"Let me just talk to Mika," Miho brushed between the two as she approached the kantele playing girl. "Mika! Oi!"

"Miho Nishizumi," Mika said as she plunced a string.

"What are you doing out here?" Miho asked

"Isn't the scenery beautiful here, you can just take in from the surrounding."

Miho glanced around, "That's not it," she returned to the subject at hand. "You should've been able to hear us and- Mika, will you stop playing that so loud?"

"Hmm?!" Mika said with blissful ignorance. She was playing the kantele much louder with their conversation, playing a familiar tune on it.

"Why are you playing that so loud? I'm talking with you," Miho asked again. The kantele entered a crescendo, Miho felt her frustration do the same.

"Mika, please stop it," Miho and another voice said. Miho noticed the double speak and looked for its source, though it was nowhere from the ground. She looked up at the BT-42 and saw the other missing figure.

"Nonna?" Miho asked of the girl sticking out of the BT-42 hatch, she simply waved back. "What are you doing up there?"

"Apologies," Mika said, bowing towards Nonna. "I couldn't mask your presence."

"That's alright, we needed the moment. She is ready now" Nonna said and beckoned towards Miho. "Please come in."

Miho gestured to herself. _Me? In?_ She used a rudimentary hand language pointing to herself and towards the BT-42. Nonna nodded, and with Mika's urging, she climbed the assault gun, bringing the maps with her.

Into the BT-42 large turret, it was still only meant for two people, and she found herself cramped in the turret with Nonna and Klara. Whatever happened in here, it was a private conversation as Klara was curled up in a ball and did not move as Miho climbed in through the commander's hatch.

"Klara?" Miho didn't expect her in here as well. She didn't stir and remained in a upright fetal position.

"Klara," Nonna said, before speaking in Russian towards her. It was in a smooth tone, one that would be expected in an attempt to encourage.

Klara let out a heavy sigh before she spoke. "Miho Nishizumi."

"Klara, are you hurt? Is something wrong?" Miho asked.

Klara paused again, "I'm sorry. This whole mess… it's my fault."

 _What?_ "Don't say that Klara, I'm the one in command here. It's up to me to get us out."

"I know Suvorov's commander…"

Miho was silent. She had considered Klara's relationship with Suvorov, especially with her "healthy" conversation she had with the paratrooper on Ōarai carrier during their night attack. In her mind, there was no doubt that Klara had some intimate knowledge with how the Russians conducted their armor doctrine. Being close to the enemy commander was also in consideration, but not the top.

"Erik Dimitrevich Katukov," Klara stated his name. "He's been the commander of Suvorov the last three years. I've even served under him for a time when I was in Russia."

Miho listened intently. Klara was pouring a life story out and interrupting would be beyond rude.

* * *

 **Southeast bocage, France**

Yukari and Erwin marched through the hedgerow paths, singing on the way:

 _Uma wa taoreru, sutete mo okezu_

 _Koko wa izuku zo, Mina Teki no Kuni_

The MP40 clacked on her back with each pace.

"How far you figure their gathering point is from the town?" Yukari asked.

"Hmmm…" Erwin channeled her thoughts. "They could be as far as several kilometers, for operational flexibility."

"Urgh, we don't have much time left either." She checked her phone, "only about a hour and twenty minutes left."

"Why don't we switch it up a bit?" Erwin said. "Different song?"

"Hmm, what about 'Ballad of the Green Berets'?" Yukari said.

"Mmm, I'm not sure about that. Oh! I know, what about 'Westerwaldlied', Guderian?"

"Great idea, Erwin! I got my best German with me!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Okay, a one, a two, and…

 _Heute wollen wir marschier'n_

 _Einen neuen Marsch probier'n_

 _*CRACK*_

The singing stop under that threatening noise, Yukari instinctively dived down. "Erwin, down!"

"Huh?!" Erwin responded before the air ripped apart.

*RATATATATAT-CRACK-RATATATA*

The two dived into the ditches by the tall hedgerows, the bullets ripped through the foliage, tearing off leaves and branches that rained on the girls.

"Agh! This is just like on the carrier!" Erwin shouted.

"We must've drawn a patrol's attention! Fall back!" Yukari shouted as a machine gun rang out its tempo. A DP machine gun!

She and Erwin ran back from the lines.

"Of course, it's when we start singing German when the whole world falls apart!"

* * *

 **Southwest Bocage, France**

The sound in the distance sounded like a loud sewing machine, its startling appearance shaking Sodoko.

"You scared, Sodoko?" Mako boringly said.

"You would be if you've been under fire!" Sodoko shouted.

"Shhh," Mako shushed, "they'll hear us…"

"Brr…" Sodoko shuddered as she held onto the Karabiner 98k rifle as Mako walked with a MP40. Her submachine gun clacked around, nervously affecting Sodoko with each part movement.

"Loosen up Sodoko."

"Stop calling me that, Mako! How would you like it if I called yo-"

"Shh!" Mako ducked down into the ditch, "come here."

"Don't shush me, I'm not gonna-" The sound of an approaching engine came and Sodoko quickly complied. A dull green car with a gun drove by in the next intersection of the hedgerow.

"A car?" Sodoko identified.

"Maybe an armored car," Mako wrote on a notepad. "It's got a turret."

"It's heading towards the sound of gunfire," Sodoko listened to the continued fire.

"I hope Yukari is alright."

"On the other hand," Sodoko beamed, "They're taking most of the heat off us! Let's go!"

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

"He and I… we had a strained relationship and…" Klara's voice trailed off as she went back to her thoughts.

"Is that why you left Russia?" Miho asked.

"There was… an accident," Klara continued. "I nearly tore the Katukov family apart. I was given an opportunity, stay and face further persecution for my failures, or transfer overseas away from the wrath of the Katukovs."

Miho couldn't help but feel sorry for Klara, her experiences… it was something she could sympathize with.

"Miho, let me help you beat Erik Katukov," Klara said. "It's the least I can do for everything that has happened."

"Klara, I don't want you to think this is your fault," Miho said. "If you haven't given them any vital information about our fight earlier, this has nothing to do with you, regardless of your relationship with them."

"You mean it?" Klara asked.

"Of course," Miho said. "In exchange, I need you to give us all you know about Suvorov against our strategy here."

Miho pulled out the map and laid it out on the turret floor of the BT-42. She explained her plan to Klara and Nonna, with Mika poking in from above to listen as well. Nonna and Klara sporadically converse in Russian as Miho told them her idea of force allocation.

"It's not too bad…"

"Really?" Miho replied.

Klara pointed to the south area, "It's really hedging on the bet that you can bait him into this attack. Not only that, you'll have to target the IS-3, his personal tank. I must warn you, Miho, the Katukovs have an uncanny ability to maneuver that IS tank across the battlefield."

"Why's that?" Miho asked.

"I'm not so sure," Klara said, scratching her head. "It mostly on the way its driven. The IS-3 is hard to drive as is, so anyone being able to move it as I've seen must be supernatural. Stories go that the tank can maneuver against enemies that it shouldn't even be able to see yet."

"We've noticed that too," Miho said, "the IS-3 has near pin-point accuracy as well."

"Even if we do chip away at all their other units, we won't be able to beat the IS-3 in a fair match. This is a hard battle you've given to the forward guard units at the south if they attack from there."

"I know, Klara. That's why I put you with them as well."

"...какой?" Klara said with a surprised look in her face.

"Yes, Klara. You know them the best, I'm trusting you to be able to read their movements once they've attacked."

"But… my allegiance…You know our relationship. Do you trust me to be able to take the shot?"

"Who do you serve for now Klara?" Miho asked. Nonna took a look at Klara as well as she briefly thought about it.

"...Katyusha."

"Then you'll be fine with her up in the front," Miho folded up the map. "Meet in the town center when you're ready, we need to start positioning our troops within the… hour and ten minutes."

She climbed out of the BT-42 through the gunner hatch as Mika looked on. Rolling off onto the ground, Miho made her way as Klara shouted, "Miho-sha!"

"Hmm?"

"T-thank you."

* * *

 **Southwest bocage, France**

"Is that tank stuck?" Sodoko asked.

The two girls had come across a group of assault guns in a ditch dug in the hedgerow. Their rear end dropped in and their gun barrels point up towards the air as the vehicle laid back.

"It doesn't look stuck…" Mako noted, "it looked more like it backed up in there."

"The gun's just pointing up though!"

"A 152 mm… its in an artillery fashion. I've seen pictures of tanks like this in an artillery role. Loading that against the gravity must be a pain..."

"There's another one behind it too!"

"A battery…" Mako continued writing this all down. The presence, the caliber, and the location.

"What do you mean battery?"

"Nevermind Sodoko. Let's keep moving, we're running low on time. Only got roughly an hour left!"

"Hey wait! There's some tanks over there that looks like the one those Continuation students have!"

"Hmm? A BT tank?" Mako asked.

"No, the big one!" Sodoko clarified.

 _A KV?_ Mako thought. _For a force with all their rather modernized vehicles, why was there a KV in the mix?_ "I'll write it down."

* * *

 **Southeast bocage, France**

Yukari and Erwin were running low on breath as they continually duck and cover when a volley fire their way. Under pursuit, they continually weave about.

"Guderian! Something's coming!"

The two dove again, listening as their firearms point up in a worst case scenario.

In the ditch, their breath were steady but coarse as a running engine became louder.

The car started coming by, followed with a platoon of Suvorov cadet squad, brimming with firearms meant against infantry.

 _Those must've been the anti-tank riflemen from earlier…_ Yukari thought. _Gosh… they're so menacing up close!_

The car carefully drove down the street as the riflemen started poking about around the ditches, rifles pointing down. There were at least seven men on each side of the road.

"That's a BA-10 armored car," Erwin gritted under her breath.

A BA-10 armored car. While its armor is nothing in the current affairs of armored warfare, it still has a 45 mm gun, a coaxial DT machine gun, and a well-protected crew against small arms. Even if they could trounce the squad, which itself was a slim chance, the car would annihilate them.

"Let's go," Yukari urged on as they tried to crawl.

 _*Crik...crack*_

"No good, dry greenery!" Erwin winced as the twigs and leaves snapped and rustled under their movement. The squad was getting closer.

"What do you think they'll do to us?"

"Guderian, shut up and hide!"

Yukari felt her heart race as the wheels started to roll closer. They were at least 50 meters out now. Back in her missions, she felt she could get a degree of concealment under her stealth suits from the Americans. Here, she was practically naked with her school sensha-dou uniform on the green. All that was there to hide them was the shade the hedgerow provided against the sun, a minimum one at that with the noon placement of the sun.

Time scrolled by slowly with each steps. The cadets on a search seem to be on a radio transmission. Communications, so even if they could evade, back up will surely arrive.

Then something pounced on the scenery, a bombastic orchestral music blared throughout the air. The music echoed as the sound waves showed its source from heavy loudspeakers.

 _Если на Отчизну нагрянет беда,_

 _Позовёт солдата труба._

 _Армия моя, ты на страже всегда!_

 _Ты - моя любовь и судьба!_

"Erwin, run in now!" Yukari shouted as she stood up and ran into the hedgerows. She could hear, barely under this new music, as Erwin followed swiftly.

They forced their way through the thickest brush of the hedgerow and bursted on the other side to the open fields in the center of the bocage.

The two froze on the ground of this open area as they intently listened, or tried to listen under this new music, at the patrol. No excitement, no alerts, the patrol continued their merry way under this blasting music.

The music was of orchestral performance in Russian. Yukari couldn't instantly recognize the music, but it sounded of a military purpose.

The moment the music sounded, the opportunity was given as it muted the battlefield under its loud field while attracting the cadet's attention brief enough for Yukari and Erwin to move unnoticed. The patrol continued searching the road, but missed the two's new position inside the bocage.

"Good call Guderian," Erwin remarked.

"It's getting too hectic for us here," Yukari said.

"Should we head back?"

"Probably the safest move now."

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

"And I need you to plant the tank destroyers in the building! Yes, inside! There's more cover and concealment that way!" Miho commanded through the radio as she examined the map. She shouted, having to penetrate through the loud music that Suvorov has put up.

"Miho," Klara said as she approached. Miho nearly missed her voice under this music.

"Yes Klara?"

"This music, its a Suvorov tactic," Klara stated.

"So it's not just to drown us out?" Saori said, holding her ears like they were aching.

"Partially that," Klara stated. "But also to drown out the sound of Suvorov positioning their forces."

"So they're moving their pieces into play," Miho said. "We have to continue to do the same!"

"What music is this anyways?"

"Right now… it is 'My Army', a Russian marching song," Klara said. "Though I'm sure they'll bring out new music to avoid feeling stale."

"That's sure what we need, some background music. Alright, get your tank with Katyusha, you two will be working together in tandem."

"Nishizumi-dono!" Yukari's cry came from behind in a running loss of breath, with Erwin following suit.

"Yukari! You're back and safe!" Miho shouted, almost wanting to give her a hug.

"Yeah, it was very close out there! We got spotted by a patrol and they opened fire!"

"Vigilant as always," Klara commented.

"Were you able to find anything?" Miho asked.

"No, sorry! Patrol was rather heavy there! They even got a BA-10 armored car there!"

"An armored car? They'll probably use it in a recon role," Klara spoke her thoughts.

"They've got a variety of weapons to choose from. Cars, T-34, and T-44. They have a good range of vehicles they can expend with priority," Miho said. "If they're heavy over there, there's a good chance a bulk of the enemy is there too."

"Not so fast, Ms. Nishizumi," Klara interrupted. "It is very possible Suvorov is hoping for you to fall to this bait as well. Maskirovka is more than concealing their movement, but misleading the enemy as well."

"I see," Miho acknowledged. "We'll stick with our original plan then.

"Miho," Mako's low and monotone voice was audible through all the bombastic music.

"Mako! You're back."

"Here's the notes I took," Mako said, handing over her notepad.

"It suuuurre was dangerous out there!" Sodoko said as Yukari and Erwin gave a funny look. "So make sure this info is useful!"

Miho read through the notes. "Artillery placements… I guess that explains how they use assault guns to make those strikes at these ranges. Klara, what are your thoughts?"

"Artillery has always been a core of Suvorov's battle doctrine. How they're used ranges from commander to commander though… but the current views them more as a supporting arm than a decisive one though.

"Alrighty…" Miho continued reading with that in mind. "...KV tanks?"

"What?" Klara and Yukari asked as she got a look on the paper itself, crowding around Miho. Erwin and Sodoko excused themselves in this moment.

"A KV? Why would they need that still?"

"A KV-1 from the sounds of it as well," Yukari put in her thoughts. "If Suvorov has access to all these vehicles, why do they need those specific heavy tanks still? They're better off with T-34-85s.

"Mako, anything else about these KV?" Miho asked. Mako simply shrugged. "They were with the artillery batteries… maybe we can assume they are just guards from enemy stragglers?"

"The safest bet, I think," Yukari said.

"Klara?"

"I'm not certain…" she said. "We never had those before…no, maybe it really is just nothing."

"Hmm… this changes some ideas of the enemy composition though," Miho analyzed. "At first I thought it would be a full enemy group of IS heavies, T-34 and T-44 mediums, and assault guns between 122 and 152 mm. Now, we can add armored cars and KV heavies into the mix. Depending on their allocation, it seems they do not have as many of powerful tanks than we think, some made up of the cars and KVs."

"This is a good thing, right Nishizumi-dono?"

"Only one way to find out," Miho handed back the notepad to Mako. "And we still have a lot of readying up to do. Man the tanks."

"Yes, Ms. Nishizumi," Klara said as she dismissed herself. Miho got back onto the radio.

The hour ticked away as Ōarai Compound team got set and ready.

The majority of the team has been set up on top as originally planned to guard the north passes. The west has Saunders and Chi-Ha-Tan guarding the entry while the east has a mash-up of Anzio, Continuation, and Ōarai teamed up with St. Gloriana. Their vehicles were set-up in their best defensive positions that the tank commanders at the field could best manage.

The main shield of this defense was the small contingent of tanks on the South. Pravda's T-34-85 and IS-2 were in the mix, plus the StuG III, Jagdpanzer 38(t), and the Panzer IV. Six tanks, a quarter of the Ōarai force, is left defending the entire south. The IS-2 were positioned towards the south end of the town plaza while the tank destroyers waited implanted into buildings at chokepoints. Pravda's two T-34-85 remained as the fireteam to respond to the events. Miho positioned her Panzer IV closer to the town center for the time being, by the church, as she examined the placement of the team.

The forces were flexible, and units can be shifted around. The problem is if the time provides for such movement. That was why the forward guards on the south were the most crucial to this operation.

Now the most suspenseful part of the operation was the waiting, heavily accompanied with the speakers from the hedgerow blaring Russian military music.

Эх, пусть же в колхозе Дружная кипит работа, Мы дозорные сегодня, Эх, да мы сегодня часовые.

Девушки, гляньте, Девушки, утрите слезы. Пусть сильнее грянет песня, Эх, да наша песня боевая!

"Why are they doing that?" Saori asked.

"To drown out the noises when they reposition their forces," Yukari answered. "...and maybe to annoy us."

"It's so annoying!"

"That's 'Polyushka Polye' playing right now," Miho said, getting that from Klara.

Miho looked at the watch, about 10 minutes left.

She ran through a personal checklist in her head. Everything was set in place the best manner she could think of, though she couldn't help think that something was missing, something could've been done better.

She got onto the radio. "Anglerfish here. 10 minutes to go time. Everyone ready to go?" Miho listened deeply, trying to hear over the music.

" _A-oh kay here, Miho!"_ Kay shouted through.

" _Set-up and ready,"_ Darjeeling replied.

" _I'm alright! No need to remind us every minute!_ " Katyusha replied hyperbolically.

A sound of chewing came by the next transmission by Anchovy, _"Lunrched urp urnd reeady tro gooo!"_

"I'm ready Ms. Nishizumi!" Nishi shouted in attention.

Miho sighed as she listened to the replies. Everyone was ready to give their best. Miho watched the clock tick closer to the three hour mark, officially ending the cease-fire they have been protected under.

About five minutes now. In this time, the music from the hedgerows came to an abrupt stop. For a some seconds, silence returned to the match as the Russians fumbled with the music. Suddenly, a new one came, a different tone.

Unlike the others, this had a swelling music tone as the singing grew.

Россия – священная наша держава,

Россия – любимая наша страна.

" _The national anthem_ ," Klara named the theme.

"This must be it," Miho said as she looked at the watch, four minutes left. "How long is the song, Klara?"

" _Four minutes_."

"Ready up team!" Miho shouted through the radio. The replies came in as Anglerfish team, relaxing in their positions, take up battle-readiness. Miho adjusts herself in the seat as she viewed through the cupola.

"Nishizumi-dono? You alright?" Yukari looked up from her loader's position. Miho looked down and saw something jitter. She realized a moment later that it was her own legs jumping up and down in anticipation. She pressed a hand against the leg to calm it down.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Alright alright, or okay alright?" Yukari asked back.

"I'm good, everything is going to be okay," Miho said back.

"We'll win this, Ms. Nishizumi," Hana reassured.

"I'm certain we will!" Miho said, with a charm of excitement missing before.

"That's the Miporin we know!" Saori exclaimed.

Miho prepped up. Everything was ready.

The clocked ticked down the final minute. Miho opened up and peered out the cupola. The split hatch opened up the way as she saw the force arrangement from where she was. The crucial moment was coming.

The minute was up.

 _*RREEOOWWWRR-REEOOOWWWRRR-RREEPOWWWRRR!*_

The air filled with such nasty noises! But everyone listened to this unfamiliar noise. Miho quickly got onto her radio.

"KATYUSHAS!"

" _WHAAAATTT?!"_ The little girl from Pravda shouted.

"NOOOO! KATYUSHA ROCKEEETTTTSSSSS! COVER! HANA, DRIVE INTO THE CHURCH!"

 _*KRREEOOWWWRR-REEOOOWWWRRR-RREEOOWWWRRR!*_

While the Panzer IV lurched back, Miho quickly closed the cupola hatch as the town erupted. Explosions shook the ground like an earthquake, the blasts sending dust and rubble flying around the town. The noise rocked the girls' minds and the building around them as it fell all around them.

After less than a minute, the terrible grinding noise of rockets receded, followed by the insufferable sound of destruction surrounding the girls.

Dust flew inside the Panzer IV, causing the crew to cough. Once the explosions stopped, Miho cracked open her cupola for air, but more rubble ended up falling into her lap, coating her in a shade of dull grey. The entryway of the church building was blocked by rubble, but luckily the building still seemed standing. The same cannot be said for the rest of the replica town. The town was a shadow that it once was, its pristine buildings blasted apart from the rocket waves. It was perhaps easier now to count the number of buildings still standing than those that were destroyed.

" _*cough**cough*_ Status report! Is everyone alright?!" Miho shouted.

" _We've got some losses!"_ Kay screamed through. " _Two M4s are toast here!"_

" _Rosehip lost her wingmen,"_ Darjeeling said, the loss of one Cromwell.

" _Carpaccio is down!"_ Anchovy yelled.

"We've got some trapped tanks here!" Turtle team said from under rubble.

" _Where did those come from?!"_ Katyusha shouted.

Miho did some quick deductions. _We're down to 18 tanks now!_ "Everyone, recover quickly! Mako, try to drive out. We'll make Hana blast it apart if we have to."

"Roger that."

Suddenly, as the silence returned in the devastated town, the sound of chaos emerged from the bocage. The rattling _BOOMS_ of artillery guns thundered in the distance and the mighty roar of diesel engines sounded all around, surrounding Ōarai. The time was now.

"Here they come, everyone!"

* * *

 **Happy New Years!**

 **Well, for where I am when I wrote most of this chapter. Overseas vacation (FFN is also blocked here), but also means I celebrate New Years a lot earlier than America.**

 **Nevertheless, here it is! And a HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	28. Thundering Assault!

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 28: Thundering Assault!**

 **Northwest of town, France**

As the vibrations of the rocket barrage subsided, the shrieking shells of artillery dropped onto the town, or what was left of it. The girls hunkered down in their tanks as they hoped to not be under a falling shell. The hammering of the Earth continued for what seems eons before it subsided as well, their stunning explosions heading back into deafness.

Kay reopened her Jumbo's hatch to witness the scenery. Her whole sector was demolished, the buildings that stood tall before were now just bare crumbling walls. The roads were also totalled, the large caliber shells creating craters all over, hindering tank movement.

The scenery came to her mind first, then she got onto the radio. "All units, check in!" She cried, confirming those that have survived.

" _YOU WANNA KNOW HOW YOU GET TINNITUS?! BECAUSE THIS IS HOW YOU GET TINNITUS!"_ Alisa screamed on top of her lungs; Kay could hear her at her tank's 11 o' clock direction.

" _Seems we're fine too,_ " Naomi replied back.

" _I-I'm fine! Somehow!"_ The timid voice of Fukuda spoke through.

" _Whew! We survived through an artillery barrage! That's one for the books!_ " Nishi relished over her tank's endurance.

Kay waited a few seconds more before she finalized, "Hoo kay… so five of us on this point, huh?" She looked at the road in front of her that her little task force was suppose to defend for the operation. "Well, we're not gonna let them get a jump on us! Everyone get to defensive positions!"

* * *

 **Northeast of town, France**

Darjeeling stayed under her cupola as she inspected her tea cup for nicks and other discoloration. "Not a single drop spilled," she said with pride. She then observed through the cupola vision blocks for her overall situation. The Black Prince remained on the eastern road, showing its stiff upper lip to the threat from the air as it laid in the open. "Company, report status."

" _You what?!"_ Rosehip shouted.

" _Everything's steady here,"_ Rukuriri in her Churchill tank said.

" _Ow! My hair's all ruffled up he- Pepperoni get your hands off! They're real!_ " Anchovy commented in pain as stretches of keratin stretched and snapped with the shuffling.

" _Oh… it's over?_ " Azusa said. During her radio, sounds of crying and screaming was still continuous in her radio feed.

" _E-everything is u-under control…"_ Sodoko replied.

In a simple gesture of acknowledgement and endurance, Continuation's BT-42 moved out of the rubble into the open for Darjeeling to see.

"Anyone else?" Darjeeling asked for stragglers, but no more returned. "So all that remains is seven."

"A respectable number for a defensive line." Assam said.

"Right, reposition the tank towards the rear behind that building at our 7 o' clock," Darjeeling ordered looking towards the rear vision blocks. However, as the tank shifted, a terrible noise vibrated throughout the hull.

"What is that terrible noise?" Orange Pekoe said, briefly covering her ears.

"We must have thrown a track," Assam deduced. "Probably from the bombardment, should we repair it now?"

Diesel engines sounded in the outskirts of town, rumbling ever closer to their location.

"Negative. We'll hold here for now," Darjeeling said. "We've got 152 millimeter of armour that can take a beating. We just need a scout for us to understand the incoming force." Darjeeling got to the radio once more, "Any volunteers?"

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

As the ominous sound of tanks come onto the town, Miho evaluated her new position inside the caved in building.

"Well at one hand, we're practically safe from anything else outside…" She postulated out loud. "On the other hand, we're useless and sitting ducks here." Miho quickly made her next decision, "Mako, do you think we can bulldoze our way through that wreckage?"

"Can't say. That's a lot of mass in front of us." Mako replied.

"Maybe climb over it?" Saori suggested.

"The inclination wouldn't allow it."

As they speculated, Miho got to the radio, "HQ is fine inside the church building, but we've been isolated by cave in. Requesting support!"

" _I got just the thing,"_ Katyusha said. " _Nonna! Head on and help Miho-sha!"_

" _Affirmative, Ms. Katyusha,"_ Nonna replied.

"Understood!" Miho confirmed. "Katyusha, set up the perimeter just as we planned on the south, and keep me up on the situation!"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

Turtle team's Jagdpanzer 38(t) shook as it rammed itself into what used to be an open window cafe, a mock cafe, that was torn apart from the Russian barrages. The ram buckled what little support was left of the cafe, with rubbles and dust falling all over the yellow-painted tank destroyer.

Its location was of tactical importance, as the Hetzer's position now gave it a good view of the entire south-eastern main road. The additional rubbles only coated the Hetzer to completely blend in the vehicle to its surrounding.

"Oh-kay! We're in!" Anzu brushed her hair as she examined through her periscope. She settled down and poked Momo's shoulder. "Momo, would you rather switch seats with me?"

"I g-got this, prez!" Momo nervously said.

"You sure?~" Anzu pressed on.

"We hope you get pin-point accuracy then!" Yuzu cheerfully said. "Or else there is a pun-ish-ment~"

"..." Momo was silent.

"Well?"

"Okay, fine! Prez, switch with me!"

"O-kay!" Anzu said as they effortless switched. Anzu got up to the Pak 39 gun. "Wow, we really do have a straight sight through there! You'd have to be a _terrible_ shot to miss!"

"Poor Momo," Yuzu said with a teasing smile in amusement as Momo writhed, her past failings nagging on her.

Anzu snuggled up to the Hetzer's periscopic scope for the PaK 39 gun. The triangular reticle focused her eyesight to the direct center down the road.

On the south-western main road, Hippo team's StuG III rammed itself into a hiding slot that bore into a caved out building structure. Only their prominent muzzle brake and barrel length of the StuK 40 cannon stuck out. Saemonza aimed in the periscopic sights as the gun wiggled towards the direction down the road.

"This is just like the legend of Horatio at the bridge!" Caesar said as she viewed through the commander's periscope.

"Oryou will be avenged here!" Erwin said.

"No, no. That wouldn't fit the story's moral…"

"What about protecting this pathway against our friends behind us?" Saemonza said.

"That's it!" The girls said in unison, the usual cry slightly empty with one MIA.

"Keep an eye downrange Saemonza!" Erwin said. "I've got stocks of ammunition ready for you to use!"

Katyusha observed the tank destroyers set themselves up, her T-34-85 in a position also observing down the road. Her T-34-85 lined up down towards the south-west, with her tank hidden behind rubbage that exposes only the turret and the long gun. She observed through the cupola for a clean view, hoping that the enemy tank wouldn't notice her at the same time.

Klara on the other end did a similar move as she observed down with Turtle team.

As they position, Nonna was on the move towards the church building, where its trapped occupants.

"Miho Nishizumi, are you alright in there?" Nonna radioed in to the occupants.

" _Oh boy! Nonna!_ " Saori's voice cried through the radio.

" _Yes, we're fine!_ " Miho shouted.

"I think a 122 mm shell can help with this barricade, sit t-"

" _Wait, Nonna! If you fire that shell, they'll know the IS-2 is down here!"_ Miho said. _"Hold fire!"_

"Ah, affirmative," Nonna replied.

"For now, let's see where the enemy is committed."

* * *

 **Northwest of town, France**

"Careful here Viktor, do not dare tip the car again!"

"Christ sake's, commander. I get it!"

"And don't stop too suddenly, I do not want that bitch behind us to run us over!"

"Alright, alright!" Viktor exasperatedly cry out next to him. "Piss your pants so quick, why don't you!"

Egor scoffed as he went back to the map, the driver attended back to his duties with the BA-10 armored car, driving down the dirt road.

The radio in front of Egor echoed out, _"Recon 1_ _, this is Company 1 leader. Sit-rep, over."_

Egor replied, "Company 1, this is Recon 1 leader. We're approaching the northwestern road. Will update as we enter. Over."

" _Recon 1. Copy that. Proceed with the task. Out."_

"You guys good up there?!" Egor cried out in the car interior.

"Can't wait to shoot up some Japs!" The gunner in the 45 mm gun turret shouted.

"Easy there, Misha. This is not like the simulations."

"Everything is like the training, commander!" The loader replied.

"In training, we don't get shot at by 88, Arthur!"

"What's the harm, commander? We drive in, we get shot at, we drive out. Simple as always."

"With Viktor's driving skills, I'm already surprised we're still here in one piece!" The gunner shouted out.

"What did I ever do to you guys?!" Viktor shouted.

"Quiet!" Egor ordered. "You bunch of bastards… Viktor turn right here. Misha, stay alert."

"Aye aye, sir," Misha said as Egor heard the turret mechanics whir with movement.

Egor got to the radio, "All Recon 1 units, this is Recon 1 leader. Report in."

" _Recon 1-2, right behind you,_ " Lenner in the T-70 light tank behind them replied.

" _Recon 1-3, standing by,"_ Marat, inside another BA-10 car behind the tank, replied.

"Roger that. All Recon 1 units, we are entering the town's interior. Stay alert for combat. Recon all units. Out." Egor finished.

The three recon units turned into the town, and Egor listened in the back as the T-70 light tank trailing them manipulated its tracks to follow.

"Artillery messed the place up!" Viktor cried out as he swerved the car around large pieces of rubbles. As he did, the crew hanged onto dear life.

"Hey hey hey hey! Careful Viktor! We're top heavy! Don't do the _Emcha_ here!"

"Oh shut up!"

Egor saw something in the horizon on the road and squinted.

"Tank!"

"Where?!"

"Down there! It's hiding in that crater there! Viktor, turn god damn it!"

Viktor swerved as machine gun rounds riddled off the metal plates of their armored car. The inertia involved went with the car's new direction and the car soon lifted off its two right wheels as the force overcame the balance. The crew reacted quickly, with the three crew attempting their best to force some weight onto the right side as Viktor braked the car. The stopped vehicle wobbled, then crashed back down on all four wheels, positioned behind a building.

The trailing T-70 was not as lucky, after blasting off a 45 mm shell, a high-velocity shot sliced into the front armour. That was the end of that light tank.

Egor quickly got on the radio as the turret pointed the 45 mm towards the street, "Company 1! This is Recon 1 leader! Contact! Lost Recon 1-2! We've got engagement at this grid-!"

Suddenly, a heavy orchestral _THUM-THUM-THUM_ of a heavy machine gun blasted through the street, down as they struck heavily on pieces of metal. A resulting crash and sputter followed as Egor speculated that Recon 1-3 was taken out by the fire. Heavy machine guns were no joke.

"Lost Recon 1-3! Requesting fire mission on this grid!"

Loud diesel engine noises blasted in front as two tanks in brown, green, and yellow color drove out from around the corner in front of the armored car. Two gun barrels towards them.

"What was that, Arthur?" Viktor spoke loudly in the car. "'Simple as always?'"

"Shut up!"

 _*BLAM BLAM*_

* * *

As soon as the white flag popped out of the armored car, the girls transmitted enthusiastic messages.

" _One armored car down!"_

" _We did it!"_

The girls from Chi-Ha-Tan celebrated their small victory.

Kay listened in with satisfaction whilst behind the M2 Browning behind the turret. _Finally, we're getting somewhere with this_ , she thought as the action returns in the match.

" _Looks like a reconnaissance group,_ " Alisa responded over the radio from her position on the road. " _Recon by fire now, if anything_."

"Yeah, gotcha and-" Kay spoke and is interrupted by the hatches of the downed T-70 opening, the two man crew struggled to escape their predicatment.

" _Hey hey! They're getting away!_ " Nishi shouted on the radio. Similarly, the armored car crew are also leaving their downed car. " _What should we do?!"_

Kay looked as the crew made it out with their boots on the ground, they started to make a mad dash out of the area.

" _Should we engage?!"_ Alisa shouted. Her M4A1 (76) W turret already turning to towards the running personnel.

"No, leave them."

" _But they'll report our positions,"_ Naomi chipped in.

"Yeah… but it doesn't feel right," Kay admitted. "Besides, if there is anyone behind them, they kinda get the idea that we're waiting to ambush them already. Get to your secondary positions and await for my signal!"

" _Yes ma'am!_ "

Kay leaned outside her turret as she looked at the carnage. Suvorov conducted their little recon and met heavy resistance on the north side, now how will they react at the south?

* * *

 **Northeast of town at the outskirts, France**

The three girls from Continuation peered out of their tank, concealed in the foliage outside the town.

With binoculars at hand, Aki kept an eye out towards the road on the town border roads. Tanks emerged from the south side as they rolled on the roads over towards the main road from the east of the town. Aki counted out the tanks… one, two, three. _So about a platoon_ , Aki thought. "You girls seeing the same thing I am?"

"Oh yeah," Mikko replied, peering out the opened driver's hatch. "That's three KV-1 right there."

"What's that on their back? Isn't anything I've seen before?" Aki took a closer look with her binos.

"They look like...pipes. They're pipers, right?"

"More like rebars."

"Katyusha."

"Her? What does she have to do with it?" Aki asked Mika as she peered out the commander's hatch.

"Ei… Katyusha rocket racks… empty Katyusha racks."

"Ehh? I'd figure those were on trucks!" Aki exclaimed. "Why put them on the KV tank?"

"Heavy tank bringing heavy power…" Mika analyzed as she got onto the radio to report, "Darjeeling, three visitors coming in the road. Grid…"

Aki took this moment to get into the turret and nudge for Mikko's attention with her left feet. As soon as she got Mikko's attention, she lurched forward inside the BT-42 turret to within inches from Mikko.

"You feel Mika has been… different for a while now?" Aki asked.

"Hmm?" Mikko said as she glanced at Mika, then back to Aki. "She seems fine to me."

"Yeah, but… she feels more focused and…" Aki's sentence trailed as she got even closer. "She's put down the kantele."

Mikko took on a concerned look as the two look over at Mika again, still attentive to the radio.

"Well she's gotta put that thing some times y'know?" Mikko dismissed it.

"Maybe..." Aki replied, but that funny feeling remain.

* * *

 **Northeast of town, France**

The Suvorov heavy tanks turned the corner as they ran right into the 17-pounder cross reticle.

"So those are the Katyusha KVs…" Assam commented as she relaxed on the optics.

"Three incoming," Orange Pekoe said as she cradled a round in her arms. "Distance approximately less than 400 meters."

Darjeeling sipped from her tea cup, "Hold fire until you can see the black of the gun barrel."

"Affirmative," Assam said as she finely adjusted the gun. The KV-1K undoubtedly saw their Black Prince immobile in the middle of the road with its torn tracks. The first one stopped and fired a shot, the round flew onto the Black Prince with a * _CLANG*_ and the tank vibrated slightly.

"Is that the 76 mm?" Orange Pekoe asked. "Not a lot of firepower in there."

"As the saying goes, 'If it isn't broken, don't fix it'," Darjeeling said rather proudly as another Russian round came in and vibrated the metal all-around.

The three KV-1K made their turn and stopped in a V-formation. The three tanks lined up in Darjeeling's point of view, but it was more akin to a staggered formation with the lead tank front and center, the tank to the left trailing slightly behind, and a tank to the right in the rear of the formation. These tanks slowly approached, only stopping to fire a shot.

* _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_ The rounds ricochet off as the tanks approached.

"Now Ms. Darjeeling?" Assam asked rather calmly.

"Hold," Darjeeling said.

"Closing in 300 meters…" Orange Pekoe estimated, now fidgeting with the ammunition on her lap.

* _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_ The sound continued in a pattern.

"200 meters..."

"Steady now girls…" Darjeeling said as she placed the tea cup down and grabbed the talk piece of the radio.

* _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_ * _CLANG*_

"150 meters!"

"Ms. Darjeeling? Permission to engage?" Assam asked once more.

Darjeeling took her radio and pressed the talk piece, "Spring it."

From the far end of the road that the KV-1K passed by as they approached the immobile Black Prince, Darjeeling's old Churchill and Mallard Team's Char B1 bis crawled out of a branching road and positioned itself on an angle behind the KV-1 tanks.

"All units, fire!" Darjeeling said calmly.

"Roger that," Assam said as she pressed the trigger. The 17-pounder rang out as the shot etched on the top edge of the lead KV-1 front plate, ricocheting off into the air. As the recoiling breech returned and threw out the spent case, Orange Pekoe swung in a round before the casing fell to the turret floor.

Assam's eyes did not waver from the telescopic scope as she saw the ambush carry out. The rear Char B1 bis and Churchill fired their shots to the KV-1s rear, and the side armor also sparked with shots flying around, the Cromwell, M3 Lee, and P40 firing from the branching roads, hidden among the rubbles.

The three KV-1 tanks stopped firing as their armor lit up from the firepower being poured on them. No white flags shot up, a testament of the KV-1 armor against the tanks. However, tracks and wheels were being shot off, with a KV-1 starting to lean as the remaining wheels could no longer support the weight. One KV-1 gun barrel was also smashed off from the firing. Their turrets turn erratically trying to engage this situation. The rear machine guns on the turrets trying to harass the tanks behind them while the guns continue facing the Black Prince.

The Black Prince with its 17-pounder remain the only powerful weapon to deal with these KV-1s. In the short time the chaos in front has started in, Orange Pekoe finished loading the gun. "Up!"

"Firing!" Assam shouted after a fine elevation adjustment and the 76.2 mm shot flied once more, this time landing straight into the front plate of the KV-1 tank. This shot sent up the white flag on that tank.

Orange Pekoe quickly upped and grabbed the next round for the 17-pounder and slid it into the open breech. "Up!"

Assam quickly adjusted the gun towards the tank on the left, linking up the sights onto the front plate. "On th-"

Abruptly, white powder burst all over the vehicle, bits of sparkling shards flew all over the tank, covering it in a dense cloud.

"What the…" Assam stared in surprise while this cloud filled her view.

Darjeeling got on the radio, "Who fired smoke?"

" _Sorry! Sorry!_ " The young voices of Rabbit team apologized. " _That was us!_ "

" _I can't see anything now!_ " Rosehip shouted in the comms.

" _Sorry!_ "

"Assam, take the shot."

"Right, Ms. Darjeeling," Assam said as she got back into the sights. Outside the smoke wavered in density as she saw glimpse of the KV-1 tank.

The driver hatch then opened in the midst, bringing Assam's attention to it as a man pulled himself out of the tank. He coughed as he fell out and onto the armor bed; another man, the assistant driver, also came out in the same condition. The hatch was soon emitting the same white smoke as the outside.

"Ms. Darjeeling, are you seeing this?" Assam said.

"I see it, the smoke must be quite arid…" Darjeeling said as she watched. "Make a clean shot when possible.

"Yes," Assam said as she raised the reticles to the turret. The hatches on top was also opening as the crew bailed out of their smoke-filled tank. Leveling the reticle right on the turret front, Assam shouted, "Firing!" and fired the 17-pounder, it flew into the KV-1 and sent it out of commission as its crew tried to find the air to breathe. "I do not have sights on the last KV tank," Assam told Darjeeling.

"Understood," Darjeeling noted as she got onto the radio. "All units, the smoke is concealing our vision. Do not allow the last tank to get away."

" _R-roger! Fire!_ " Azusa shouted as the dual-gun on the M3 Lee fired.

" _Adjust gun traverse about 10 degrees to the right_ ," Mika said.

"Mika, can you see their position?" Darjeeling asked.

" _I can, adjust gun traverse 10 degrees to the right. The tank is reversing as we speak."_

"Assam, traverse turret, 10 degrees to the right," Darjeeling ordered.

" _You have more visitors coming in, medium tanks."_

"Got it, Mika."

Assam slowly traversed the turret as she kept an eye on the azimuth. A short moment, she gauged the gun in its correct position. "Gun in position."

"Mika, gun correction?" Darjeeling asked.

" _Gun on target_."

"Assam, fire."

"On the way," Assam said and she fired a round through the smoke, the muzzle blast sending an impressive wave through the dense cloud. A sudden _*CLACK*_ sounded with an impact, then with a small mechanical sound of the white flag erupting.

"That's the end of that," Darjeeling said in relief. Assam also breathed a sigh as she relaxed. Darjeeling returned to the radio, " _Kay, we've dealt with an enemy force here, what's your status?_ "

" _Darjeeling! We've wiped out a recon unit up front here! Suvorov's conducting reconnaissance before committing, and we've shown them we're tough up here!"_

"Well, I could say we've met our own reconnaissance. But I don't recall any reconnaissance doctrine calling for heavy tanks to be used in that role."

" _Heavy tanks?"_

"Yes, Kliment Voroshilovs, with Katyusha rockets on the sides."

" _Sounds a bit hefty for testing our sectors."_

"We'll see," Darjeeling said and she adjusted the radio. "Ms. Nishizumi, both sectors on the north have encountered enemies and dealt with them accordingly."

" _That's good!"_ Miho replied. " _Sounds like part of_ _Operation Stalagmite_ _is going well._ "

"Be careful, they'll most likely send a recon unit down south before smashing through with all their might.

" _We'll keep an eye out for them."_

" _We can start sending down units from the north to reinforce the south! Give you an extra boost!"_ Kay said.

" _That's alright Kay. Keep your tanks up there and make sure no one tries to get around towards us from the north! We'll handle the south!_ " Miho affirmed.

"Understood. Good luck, Miho," Darjeeling said.

Orange Pekoe piped up "Ah! Ms. Darjeeling! There are Suvorov crews running towards us!"

"Hmm?"

The girls looked out towards the front and from the smoke, the five coughing crew from the second KV-1 tank in the row were running out towards them.

"Well, what do you suppose…?" Darjeeling wondered. Assam instinctively trained the gun onto them, her hands double check to make sure they were on the machine gun.

The crew ran forwards, their hands bare of anything as they came up to the lead KV tank.

In a moment of curiosity, the hatches on the lead KV tank then opened. The outside crew then climbed into the lead KV, with the original KV crew inside encouraging them in.

"What are they doing?" Orange Pekoe asked.

"Well there's certainly better times than this to see if you can fit ten men inside a KV tank…" Assam said.

"Yeah, but why?"

 _*DOOM* *DOOM* *DOOM*_ Blasts echoed in the background.

"You don't think…"

"Artillery!" Darjeeling exclaimed. "All units! Incoming artillery, spread out!"

Darjeeling went up and made sure her cupola hatch was secured as the girls braced.

 _*SHRIIIEEEEEEKKKKK*_ A round fell towards them.

 _Here it comes!_ Darjeeling thought as she held onto her tea ware. The first blast rippled the tank with its shockwave. _That was awfully close!_ The second shriek came and the blast landed even closer to their tank. _They're aiming right for us!_ "Can we get this moving at all?"

"Negative!"

 _*SHRRAAAEEEEKKKKK*_ The sound was louder than ever. Then suddenly * _CRRAASSH*_ and all sense of sound became null as the Black Prince violently shook. Darjeeling and the girls were thrown off their seats as the machine vibrated. The interior safety devices were ringing alarms on broken systems as the girls recovered. Assam looked up at her fire control system.

"We're out…" Assam said as another artillery shell blasted right outside.

"A shame…" Orange Pekoe murmured as she picked herself up, making sure the 17-pounder shells were still locked in-place.

"Oh dear… oh dear…"

"Is something wrong, Ms. Darjeeling?" Orange Pekoe attended to her commander, when she sat up from the turret basket floor to show the problem.

"I broke my tea set… and all the tea spilled."

* * *

 **Northwest of town, France**

The sound echoed through the air as the blasts occurred on the east side.

 _Is that artillery?_ Kay thought as she listened. _I hope Darjeeling's alright._ _No, no, gotta focus._

It has only been a few moments since she's knocked out the reconnaissance group, and activity on the north side is rather active. So far, nothing has been noted at the south.

 _I hope this is going how Miho expected…_ Kay thought. Rethinking the whole plan, there's a lot of room for failure if Suvorov does not follow up with their expectations.

Was she basing all this on a chance? Is that what they've only got running for? A chance that maybe Suvorov will play into their hand given their actions before the cease-fire? If this was all that Miho had to bank on, Ōarai's situation is in a very precarious position for this match.

And for Miho to win… for her-

 _*WHEEEEEEEEOOOOoooo*_

Kay heard this and swiftly dove back into her cupola and closed the hatch. "Rain's coming girls, hang tight!"

The first blast erupted on the rubble of a demolished building, where shards of matter scattered all around. The particle impacted on the tank's armor, clattering all around the skin.

 _*WHEEEEEEEEOOOOoooo*_ A second one was coming in.

 _This is gonna be rough…_ Kay thought as the blast came in.

* _BOOOOM!*_

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

The north end of the town blasted away as what seemed to be the tidal wave of the Suvorov's team clashing with the force in the rear.

" _Looks like it's going according to plan,_ " Katyusha said. " _They went right for the rear area as we predicted_."

"Something went right today," Miho said. "Let's hope they can keep them back though!"

" _It's strange though…"_ Katyusha started. " _Normally, you would still send recon units in all projected avenue of attacks to probe the enemy on their strength before sending the bulk of your force._ _We have nothing here._ "

"You're right…" Miho thought. So far, there has been zero contact with the enemy in the south. All focus has been on the North, right where the majority of the team is. Surely they know by now that maybe the South was more sparse in its defenses? But… they haven't send anyone to check it and…

"GAH!"

 _There it is_ , "Hippo team, what's up?!"

" _Y-you're not going to believe this! It's…_ "

"What?!"

"It's the IS-3!"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

" _What?!"_ Miho's voice return in shock as well.

"Yes, Miho! The IS-3! It's barreling down this road right now and we've got tungsten loaded!" Caeser shouted. "We can end this right here, he's about to pass right by us and we'll nail his side!"

The heavy IS-3 tank rolled towards their position carelessly as the StuK 40 gun pointed eagerly for a sweet spot.

"C'mon ya little… I got you… I got you… just drive a little closer," Saemonza observed."

"We can end this in one shot!" Caesar said through.

Miho's response was delayed, as though she cannot believe such an opportunity was upon them. Then she returned " _Okay… do it._ "

"Saemonza, nail that mewling quim!" Caesar eagerly patted Saemonza's back as she stared through the sight. The pyramid reticle inched as the tip of the pike went in… then the front idler wheel. Saemonza's grip jiggled about as she waited for the hull sides to be in full view.

Then the IS-3 stopped and reversed. Faster than a snap, the IS-3 swerved in reverse as its front armour swung towards the right, and its front piked armor and front facing turret turned to stare at the StuG III in its little hidey hole.

"Whu...what?!" Saemonza gasped as her one-in-a-million opportunity was snatched away so quickly. From a perfect side shot to staring down the pike armor of a Soviet heavy tank with its 122 mm gun, pointing right at the StuG III in the building.

"MEHERCULE SAEMONZA, JUST FIRE!" Caesar replied appropriately to this turn of event and Saemonza reacted.

The ammunition shot out of the StuK 40 gun at a velocity of about 930 meters per second. That round zipped and bounced right off the IS-3 lower glacis armour down to the earth.

Then, as if waiting for the StuG III to fire its futile shot, the IS-3 fired its gun, and it was over for Hippo team.

* * *

 **Center of town, France**

The gun blast shook Miho and her crew.

"I'm not that good with these guns thing…" Saori said worryingly, "but… that's the sound of that Soviet 120 mm gun… right?"

"Yeah…, right after the StuG's 75 mm…" Yukari said. "And it's a 122 mm…"

Miho listened into Hippo's rambling.

" _?!"_

"Something happened there… everything was perfect for them," Hana said.

Miho returned to her usual sitting position. _The Katukovs have an uncanny ability to maneuver that IS tank across the battlefield,_ she remembered. "An uncanny ability, huh?"

" _Never mind that!"_ Katyusha said, " _Our left flank is now open and that IS-3 is still there!_ _We need to respond now! We'll swarm it with numbers!_ "

Miho weighed the options.

"First, get us out of this church," Miho said. "Nonna, I could use some demolition assistance."

" _Affirmative Ms. Nishizumi. High-explosive charge on point. Danger-close," Nonna spoke._ The Panzer IV reversed from the entrance, right as the rubble exploded violently, the shockwave cleared the loose rocks and shook the building dangerously. The interior wobbled.

However, the coast was now clear, "Mako, full speed out!" Miho instinctively said.

Mako put the pedal to the metal and the Panzer IV lurched forwards.

"With this dust, I can't see!"

"It doesn't matter!" Miho shouted as the surrounding continued to shake. "Drive faster!"

The Panzer IV pushed on and its front tracks caught on the rubble, low enough now for the tank to climb the incline. Behind them, the building fell apart as the interior filled with stones. The whole tank rumbled as the girls make their hasty escape while the whole building fell around them.

Soon, light! And the Panzer IV threw itself out of the church right as it collapsed behind them. The Panzer IV continued some distance before skidding to a stop as the dust and wreckage slowed behind them.

A distance from them was Nonna's IS-2 tank. Miho sheepishly waved back, which Nonna returned.

"Man! That was dangerous!" Saori shouted.

"That 122 mm got quite a punch alright," Mako said.

"We're out at least," Miho said, focusing st the task at hand. "That IS-3 would surely have heard that! Let's reposition and prepare to engage!"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

The diesel engine whined inside the tank interior as Naydenov adjusted the gear.

"Up!" The loader cried inside the Iosef Stalin-3 heavy tank.

 _Up…_ Naydenov felt the breech of the 122 mm D-25T gun close with the mark. The 122 mm brimmed with power of the BR-471 armor-piercing round. _Unleash it towards destruction_ , he felt the tank's eminence urge him towards it.

The metal armor tapped from within the turret, its rhythm sending a message towards Naydenov. _Driver Forwards_ , Naydenov could feel Erik Katukov order. Naydenov, without a word, pressed the pedal for the power. The harmonics of the tank heightened as the Kharkiv engine revved up the power. The transmission swelled with power as the tracks crawled forwards. The crick and cracks of the 48 ton of weight on the concrete floor, each extrinsically noted to the track impressions as they made their mark.

The hydraulics of the turret pushed about as the gunner traversed the dome turret back towards front, the 122 mm pointing forwards above the piked nose armor of the hull. Naydenov watched the front through the sole periscope in his hatch as the clicks and clacks from the turret resonated, especially from the cold hands of Erik as he watched from outside the open cupola. The commander may have more vision than Naydenov's periscope in front; though the light peering through showed so little of the world, the tank tells him everything. _There's rubble 35 meters on your left… a wooden beam 20 meters to your right._ Naydenov feel the warning come in as he adjusts the driving gear to the terrain.

 _Four tanks beyond this corner._ An ominous warning sounded in his head.

"Commander!" Naydenov shouted. "Four tanks past that corner towards the town center…" Naydenov listened once more in his mind. "Three mediums and a heavy!"

"Copy that comrade!" Erik shouted enthusiastically. "Focus on that heavy! Location?!"

Naydenov listened. "Behind the depression of the crater that artillery number 3 created! 53 degrees current angle of attack to that corner!"

Erik processed that information. "Gunner! Heavy tank in hull-down position. Turn turret at hull azimuth about 30 degrees! Right!"

"Roger!" The gunner heeded the command as the turret whirred towards the right.

"Loader! AP next!"

The loader nodded as he reached towards the turret rear where all the shells are stored and held out for another solid round for the gun.

"I'm going to drive out and halt at the angle!" Naydenov shouted towards the gunner.

"Roger!"

Naydenov pedalled it as the IS-3 rumped up speed as it reached towards the edge of the corner. His eyes showed the crumpled center building that had been recently demolished, dust still floating around. However, the tank screamed towards the four tanks that were still out of his sights.

But not out of the sights of the gunner. Naydenov swiftly braked and that lurched the IS-3 shape forwards. Showing only its front profile across the corner, two puny shots came, one hitting high and the other crashed onto the sloped pike armor to little avail. Right as the IS-3 relaxed from the inertia and came to a full stop, the gunner fired. The 122 mm blasted beautifully, like a cry of joy and release as the tank delivers its share of power with its armor. The mood quickly took a downward spiral as Naydenov felt a chill fro the end result.

"Ricochet! Gunner, adjust right!" Erik shouted.

Naydenov sighed. As much as he was one with the tank and the tank is with him, the function of the tank is still in the hands of those clumsier than his.

* * *

"How did they do that?!" Katyusha cried out. "Nonna?! Are you alright?!"

The 122 mm shot had grazed the top of the gunner's side of the gun mantlet, while also clipping itself off the IS-2 cupola. "I am alright, Ms. Katyusha."

"All tanks, relocate!" Miho shouted as the her, Klara, Katyusha, and Nonna relocated from their positions. _That reaction time! That's not natural at all!_

" _Eh? What's going on?_ " Anzu said.

"Incoming Russian heavy from the center!" Saori shouted. "It's some….something to it and staying in place isn't helping anyone!"

" _Shame, this was a great position too!"_ Anzu said as the Jagdpanzer 38(t) dislodged from their ambush position to follow the group.

"What do we do Nishizumi-dono?" Yukari asked. "That IS-3… I've never seen anything with such a fast reaction time. It's as if they knew we were there already!"

"Something's definitely strange with their situational awareness…" Miho said.

"Should we get the others to help?" Hana asked.

"No, we got our problems and they've got theirs. We can handle this ourselves."

"But Miporin! How are we going to take that out?! That tank… I haven't seen anything move like that since University!"

"Yeah, it's strange," Miho commented. Then decided to talk to the Suvorov expert in Ōarai, "Klara, what do you suggest?"

Klara's T-34-85 moved with them, but no response came.

"Klara? You there?" Miho asked again.

"Oh! I'm sorry, what was it?" Klara came back to her senses.

"What can we do against that IS-3?"

"Well… there's still the side and rear armor. That's our chance." Klara stated.

"Mmhhmm, okay. Now how are we gonna hit that?" Mako said as she steered the tank through the ruins. "Ambushes aren't working so far."

"We'll just have to be a bit more creative then. We've got to make this work!" Miho exclaimed.

* * *

 **Yep, another chapter in _Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament_. Not a drill.**

 **University and other real life assignments had been taxing on my priorities! So I apologize for the lack of updates the last few months!**

 **Lots of thing happened since the last update, eh? _Das Finale_ came out and I got a chance to watch it. Seems promising, but I'm dreading the wait time between each part release. I think it would've sufficed if they just made a dedicated second episodic season, but I guess this is the direction Actas wants to take it.**

 **In personal life, university goes on. One bummed out thing was that one of the tank museum** **closest** **to my area officially closed its doors now as their inventory is moved. Can't get up close to the tanks anymore, but I took lots of photos and videos so I got lots of references and experience at hand still.**

 **Special thanks to user _Lightarc_ for reading through this chapter draft and helping me with a character's development** **! Some of the past chapters will be edited, but I will put in an edit footnote below when I'm done so you are aware which chapters had been edited. Thank you all** **for your interest and readership!** **If you like the story, feel free to to Favorite and Follow the story to keep up with it. I look forward to seeing you all on my next upload!**

 **Edit 5/7: Chapters 7, 11, 14, 24, and 27 have been modified, mainly in interactions with the German characters. Also, a small edit was done to this chapter as well.**


	29. Tip of the Scale

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 **Chapter 29: Tip of the Scale**

 **Northeast of town,** **France**

"Eek!" Karina shrieked as an artillery round hit close to the M3 Lee.

"We'll ride it out! Don't worry about it!" Azusa shouted, trying to calm her teammates.

"That's the least of our worries!" Aya shouted as well. "Ms. Darjeeling's tank is done for! That's the only gun we've got that's worth a damn!"

"We just have to hold it out for Ms. Nishizumi to take out the flag tank!"

" _Don't say it like it's that easy!_ " Rukuriri shouted through. " _All we've got are 75 mm now! What are we gonna do?!"_

" _I'll head on over to the others to see if we can get a big gun!"_ Rosehip shouted as her Cromwell revved up.

" _Bloody hell Rosehip, you've got a radio for that now!"_

" _Right!_ "

Azusa peered through the vision ports on her cupola as the ground around them continue to erupt. With the explosions blowing away the smoke, the three knocked out KV-1 tank remain in their place; though how comfortable the ten men were inside that front KV-1 during this barrage is another topic.

* * *

 **Northwest of town,** **France**

The rounds fell on the sector again.

" _Should've incapacitated those men earlier Kay!_ " Alisa shouted through the radio as they remain buttoned-up in this artillery.

"That's in the past now!" Kay said. "Besides, they were gonna pinpoint us sooner than later!

The barrage intensity increased from its prior salvo. Instead of leveling the town, the ones sending the shells must have gotten the precise coordinates now.

" _Commander Kay! Attention to Commander Kay!"_ Her radio bloomed with the voice of Rosehip.

Kay picked up the receiver, "This is Kay! What's up? Where's Darjeeling?"

" _Darjeeling's gotten the sticky end! We need reinforcement?!"_

"She's what?!"

" _She's bought it! And we're lacking here in the firepower business!"_

 _Darjeeling's gone?_ Kay pondered, and then calculated in her head on what was left over there. The Black Prince was gone, so now there was the Churchill Mk VII, Cromwell, Char B1, M3 Lee, and… the P40. Was that really all over there? At the same time, she's just as short-staffed in this area.

"I can only send one tank over!" Kay replied. "That is it!"

" _Right! Thank you! Appreciate anything that comes over!_ " Rosehip said before her radio went silent.

Kay clicked the radio towards her company, or what's left of it. "Alright, I need a volunteer to reinforce our east sector!"

" _I volunteer for this role!"_ Nishi shouted.

"Uhh… negative. You're more important here," Kay fibbed. The Type 97 Chi-Ha wasn't gonna do much.

The radio went alive briefly as a gum bubble pop sounded first. " _I'll go_ ," Naomi said.

"Alright Naomi, good luck,"

As Naomi's Firefly tank zoomed across under the explosive rain, Alisa protested, " _Whoa whoa! Hey! That's our 17-pounder right there! You're giving away our 17-pounder?!"_

"If Darjeeling's still there, she could give some stocks of her Black Prince ammunition to Naomi. We've got our own set of ammunition, plus it should be sufficient against the enemy tanks!" Kay rebutted. As the explosions around her intensified, the particles and sound around makes the tank interior seem more claustrophobic-inducing than it has.

"Can't we do anything about this?! It's driving me nuts!" Kay's bow machine gunner shook as the rounds continued landing.

"Not from here we can't…" Kay said, grinding her teeth under the concussive waves. As her hand brushed across the white-paint interior, the metal armor on these tanks have never been as appreciated as they have ever been.

* * *

 **Northeast of town at the outskirts, France**

"Waaahh… that looks pretty bad," Aki commented as masses of the town's north side pretty much exploded.

"Heh heh, what if we had to drive through that?" Mikko grinned.

"Please don't suggest such scary things…"

"Is such things 'scary' within Sensha-dou? As it is in Tankery?" Mika said.

"Mika, honestly a seventeen pound projectile is scary no matter the context."

"What about for victory? Is it scary then?"

"Well, I-"

The radio inside the BT-42 crackled, " _Blimey hell!"_ Rosehip's voice screamed through.

" _Rosehip! You're on the company channel! Git'it!"_ Rukuriri shouted in response. The sound explosion were also blasted through the radio transmissions.

"They seem to have a problem," Mika answered.

Moments later, the guns stopped firing, and the match became relatively quiet again.

" _Everyone keep an eye out! The enemies will try for another thrust!"_ Kay shouted.

" _We won't survive another one of that barrage!"_ One of the girls from Rabbit team alerted.

" _Someone needs to deal with that artillery fire! Any more of that and we'll be pasted into sauce!"_ Anchovy shouted.

" _They're too far behind the lines! We won't be able to make it there fast enough!"_

Mika then attended to the radio. Aki and Mikko look on and predicted her answer.

"This is Mika; we will take care of your problem."

" _Mika?"_

" _You're still out there?"_ Kay questioned, _"Good to hear you're still alright! Can you do it though?"_

"Only the path of Sensha-dou will determine if I can."

" _Same old you. Well I trust your judgement!_

Mika acknowledged by tuning out the radio, "Mikko, ready up."

Aki got back to her position in the turret, "Mika, are you sure about this? These are Soviet self-propelled guns we are talking about here."

"I know what I said," Mika said with a smile as she picked up her kantele back up from the turret floor. "Mikko, forward and stay within the shadows."

"Roger!"

The BT-42's gasoline engine revved up as it moved out of its observation post towards the Russian sector.

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

"What is she up to?" Erik Katukov said as the IS-3 pursued the fleeing Panzer IV, with T-34-85s and other tanks following along.

"Heh, Kat. Maybe she's just running from you," His loader said.

"First girl to run away at the sight of Commander Kat!"

Erik gave his gunner a good, hard tap on his head with his boot's steel-tip edge. "бесшумный! What did I tell you all about calling me that?!" He put a bit more pressure onto his feet. "Besides, she wouldn't be the first one. Naydenov, keep up the pursuit! Gunner, steady on!"

"Yes sir!" His gunner replied with the boot still on him while Naydenov gave his silent acknowledgment in his actions.

Ivan Naydenov's hands work like magic around the gear of the IS-3. An art existed in his handiwork that no one else has ever replicated. The IS-3 was a slug of a machine, no questions about it. On a normal day, the IS-3 would've broken down sooner than later due to its design during the war. However, this IS-3 has never suffered the fate of mechanical error under the hands of Naydenov. When asked how, he merely stated "practice", though the evaluation of that answer is фигня. Some have tried to hypothesis his method, from the practicality by theorizing he has the ability to synchronize the transmission with the tank's vibration. Other tapped the more divine subjects by saying he is a literal act of divine intervention blessed upon him to meld with the tanks he touch, or maybe Naydenov is a living spirit that can possess tanks.

Whichever the case, Naydenov's instinct with the tank is beyond that of an average crew member, and an invaluable member in the IS-3 heavy tank.

" _HQ! This is Battery 3 leader!_ " The radio inside tuned in. " _Barrage complete! Awaiting orders!_ "

" _HQ! This is Company 1 leader!"_ Another voice came in. " _Artillery rounds complete, awaiting orders to attack!"_

Response from the assault and artillery team. Katukov got onto the radio, "All guards company, prepare to attack. Artillery units, hold in place in response to requests. Transferring command chain down to assault units. Designated Company 1 and Company 2!"

"Roger! Orders from Company 1 and 2 verified, understood HQ!"

"Roger HQ! Beginning assault!"

Erik relieved his radio as he focused at the task in front.

 _KER-BONK!_

"What was that?" Erik said with mild annoyance to the event in front.

"The cute enemy panzer is shooting at us!" His loader said. "It's adorable, like a puppy!"

Erik got onto his cupola and looked out to see the lone Panzer IV in front. "Where did the rest of the tank go?"

The loader looked through his vision port. "We, uh, lost them?"

Erik shot him a glare as his right arm reached across and grabbed the loader by the helmet, squeezing into his cranium. "Its four tanks! Are you all telling me you lost four tanks from your eye sights!?"

"The enemy tanks splitted up two intersections ago," Naydenov said from the intercom.

"Two inter-"

"We've been going in circles."

Erik looked out and saw the same patterns of building as they drove through. _So you're taking us for a merry-go-around, eh 'Legend'?_ Erik thought as he pondered on the Panzer IV's plan. The Panzer IV in front fired another round into the IS-3 front. He smirked, "Alright, I'll play along with this game."

"Perhaps we should transfer command to someone in the rear while we deal with our situation?" The gunner asked.

"No, this is fine," Erik responded. The Panzer IV fired again towards the armor with no effect. "Gunner, fire upon that thing!"

"Roger!" The gunner said as he leveled the gun on mark. After a moment, he shouted "Firing!" and the 122 mm blasted away, the round slammed into the ground by the Panzer IV.

* * *

 **Northeast of town,** **France**

The diesel engines once more rumbled in the background. An eerie sound, should the girls be glad it was now tanks they can fight and not another rain of explosions?

"Seems like I got here in time," Naomi said as she held onto an 17-pounder AP round outside the Firefly.

"I don't suppose we'll be evacuated here anytime soon," Darjeeling said in her tea-stained uniform as she picked up another round from Pekoe inside the Black Prince. "Righty-o, here's the last one. Best make yourself scarce."

"Thanks. Stay safe," Naomi said as Darjeeling and her crew descended back into the safety of their knocked out Black Prince. "Loader, how are we doing on the ammo?

"Well, got four AP and one HE in the ready-rack, and a similar ratio in all the racks here in the turret." She said. "But you better make each round count!"

"Make the ready rack full AP, don't think we'll need HE at all." Naomi said as she handed the loader the round in her grasp. She climbed over back and into her position. "Alright, everyone ready?"

" _All units in position_ ," Rukuriri responded.

"Mmhmm," Naomi said as she went towards Kay. "How are we handling on the west?"

" _Oh they're coming here alright. It's gonna be bigger than the first run through,"_ Kay responded. " _You comfortable over there?"_

"I suppose it could be worse," Naomi said. "But… we're not gonna hold for long if they come through here."

" _Yeah, I know. We just need to hold until Miho could defeat the flag tank."_

* * *

 **Northwest of town,** **France**

" _Is she gonna be alright?"_

"I'll check on her," Kay said as she tuned the radio towards the appropriate channels. "Miho, talk to me, what's up?"

" _Ah! Kay! Whoa! Mako, go right!_ "

"You alright there?!"

" _Yeah! Everything good, we're dealing with their IS-3 right now!"_

"Should we divert our resources to that?!" Kay said, the grasp and claws of victory and defeat are so close if the Panzer IV and IS-3 are closeby.

" _No! We've got a plan ready!_ _We're close to executing it!"_

The rumble of machines echoed down the road from Kay's position. "Well, you better handle it quickly then Miho Nishizumi. We won't be able to hold for much longer."

" _I got it!_ "

Kay put down the radio and was set at attention. "Gunner, eyes up. Enemy's coming our way."

The turret swayed slightly from within their position in a road crater as the gunner got her guns set up, leveled towards the road entering the town. The gun battle down at the south sector could be heard.

"Alisa, Nishi, you two ready for this?" Kay asked.

" _Hah! They try to swarm, we'll hit them from both angles!_ " Alisa replied.

" _I'll do my best for the team!_ " Nishi cried out.

"Well the spirit is there at least," Kay said as she looked out her cupola. From the distance, an object approached down the road into the town. "Enemy tank! Front! About 300 meters!"

The gun elevated to the estimated distance. Three enemy tanks incoming, not the shape of the T-34 from here, but one that has a wider body. "Enemy tanks! T-44s moving in a column!"

"Roger that!"

"Loader! HVAP next round!" Kay said. They'll need a round like that to defeat the T-44 from the front like this. "Fire when ready!"

The gunner compiled and as the T-44 closed the distance, the gunner opened fire at her leisure. The round zoomed through the muzzle blast and zipped over the approaching tanks. As the loader reloaded, Kay corrected, "Gunner, high! Adjust 100 meters! Aim towards the turret front!"

"I know where to hit!" Her gunner replied.

The enemy tank column split up into a row formation. The dispersal showed two more T-34-85 trailing them, following suit slightly behind the T-44s.

"Gunner, continue priority on the lead T-44," Kay ordered. "Alisa, Nishi, watch out. They're gonna try to flank us on both sides."

" _Got it!_ "

" _Copy that ma'am!"_

The guner fired the HVAP round again and this time it hit the glacis plate of the T-44. However, the armor withstood the high-velocity round and it dissipated on impact. The T-44 kept on coming.

"Any sweet time now gunner!"

"I know what I'm hitting!"

Two T-44, including the lead one now laid on the road alone as the other T-44 and the two T-34-85 trailed to other paths. Kay's M4A3E2 (76) Jumbo faced down barrel to barrel with other T-44. The second T-44 stopped in place as the loader loaded another HVAP round into the 76 mm gun. Its 85 mm fired and the round impacted on the M4A3E2 gun mantlet. The heavy chunk of metal that made the armor nearly seven inches thick could withstand nearly anything on this battlefield. However, the vibration shook the turret crew terribly.

"Ghh!" Kay held on as the turret vibrated. Then a second one came as the second T-44 opened fire."Gunner, wait until he fires for the next shot!"

"Got it!"

The T-44 moved forwards again, keeping its front armor angled but not so much that it shows off the hull sides. Both turrets kept their barrels within each other as the two distance closed in.

" _Kay! Two coming around this way!_ " Alisa alerted Kay.

" _Two tanks coming through our way! We're withdrawing for now! Sorry!_ " Nishi relayed.

"Hang on tight girls, I'll be there to help in a second!" Kay replied. "Gunner, take the shot!"

The gunner held her eyes on the wandering T-44. Then finally, it stopped as the gun's elevation made its adjustment.

"Now!"

The guns fired and this shot hit precisely onto the turret, smack-on like a hammer on a nail. The T-44 white flag came up.

"Driver! Move towards the left to aid Alisa!"

"Yes ma'am!" The M4A3E2 lurched out of its crater, with some effort, and rolled towards the motor noises at Alisa's direction.

"All right driver, now turn-"

 _KRK-BRRACK!_

The thud of a shell, followed by the shatter of metal parts outside the tank.

Kay recovered from the surprise as the tank's momentum turned it towards the right, a sickening screech vibrated from below. "Don't tell me…" She dreaded as she popped her head out of the cupola to look over.

Familiar bits of the bogie suspension laid shattered on the ground to their right. Kay silently thrashed as the combination of frustrations and rude words tried to erupt from here. "Grr… AGAIN?!"

"Commander! Our tracks are busted!" The driver belatedly replied.

"I CAN SEE THAT!" Kay shouted as she saw the silhouette of a T-34-85 down the road as it emerged from cover. It fired a shot, the round sliding off of the hull's left side. "Gunner, enemy tank! T-34! Adjust towards the hull's 11 o' clock!"

The turret aimed towards that direction as the T-34-85 retreated back to cover.

"Light him up if he shows himself!" Kay shouted through the intercom as she got back to the radio. "Alisa, Nishi, my tank's immobilized! Bring your enemies towards me if you need the gun!"

" _Yes ma'am! I'm coming over to your position!"_ Alisa shouted.

" _I shall not burden you too much! I'll hold these off with all we've got!_ " Nishi responded.

"Should we dismount to repair?" Kay's bow machine gunner reply.

"We're not fixing that fast enough for this type of fighting!" Kay said as she lurched over her cupola, with her immobile M4A3E2 stuck in the middle of the street exposed, with only its motor, guns, and ammunition for comfort. "Focus on your jobs, our sector here on this road is going to get lively real fast!"

At the same time, the sky roared as high caliber guns fired high into the air.

"Son of a-" Kay cursed under her breath. "This again?!"

* * *

 **Northeast of town,** **France**

"Brr, we really got to stem the Russian tide, huh?" Anchovy said, with her P40 medium tank turret whirred.

" _As long as the 17-pounder lives, there is hope!"_ Rosehip shouted in a philosophical manner.

" _Don't put all this on me,"_ Naomi said as her 17-pounder gun poked out an enclosed position among the rubble. The town rubble from the artillery provided her the cover to use next to the main road. " _I need you all to help get us through as long as possible. Got it Rukuriri?"_

" _Yeah! Got it!"_ Rukuriri replied as her Churchill Mk. VII hid towards the side, waiting to pop out and reinforce the main road with its armor.

" _Using our knocked-out hull to draw them in,_ " Darjeeling inside the knocked out Black Prince said. _"How devious. If only I had a cup of tea to watch this show._ "

" _Hah, it is a bit strange to be the least armored here now,"_ Moyoko said.

" _Quiet Moyoko! We still have a part in this team, even if we don't have a direct impact, we've got discipline to instill!"_ Sodoko said.

" _Yeah! None shall pass!_ " Karina shouted.

" _We move for no man!"_ Yuuki followed " _...well, maybe woman...but then again there's no women outside… and if there wasn't any men it'd be-"_

" _Okay Yuuki, that's enough,"_ Azusa cut her off. _"We're ready for anything coming our way."_

"Well, that's a good feeling if anything," Anchovy sighed a breath of relief. _It isn't the same like Pepperoni or Carpaccio, but it is still a big team_. Anchovy thought as she found the distribution of responsibility in their job in this sector easier to take in.

" _Here they come!"_ Rukuriri alerted as the sound of the approaching enemy grew.

The engines rumbled as all of Ōarai team's tank hid among the town wreckage and alleys dotting the road, waiting to strike. The sound ceased momentarily in the edge of the entrance, and then the sound continued, less intense than before.

" _Don't fire until ordered or if they fire first,"_ Naomi ordered hushly through the radio. Everyone kept their guns trained on the street, level with the general height of the hull of the Suvorov tanks.

The sound got closer as the crews could only see the thin sector of their alley out to the road. Anchovy tried to sense the presence with her other senses. The smell of the diesel engines...or was that her own tank's? Maybe she could taste the diesel particle… actually, that idea sounds like an insult to her taste buds.

"Duce, look!" Her gunner tugged on her clothes.

"What, what, ...oh," Anchovy looked out and saw the Suvorov tank. A small tank that looks only an edge over Pepperoni's L3 tankette crawled through, focused in the front as it weaved through the rubble-ladened road.

" _I've counted five tanks passing by_ ," Rosehip radioed her sightings in the farthest end of the road, closer to the town entrance. " _Two mediums, three lights, and-."_

Suddenly, a loud blast sounded from one of the tanks. This round went crashing right into the wreckage above Anchovy's tanks.

"What?!" Anchovy shouted as the debris fell, barely getting into the cover of the turret hatches in time.

" _Did they see us?!"_ A radio transmissions was sent out.

Another shot fired, towards a mound of rubble on the other side of the street. Then another, then another. Shots fired out all the way down the street.

" _They've seen us!_ " One of the girls yelled in response.

Rosehip was the first to act, " _I'm engaging!_ "

" _No, wait!_ " Naomi shouted.

But behind column of Suvorov tanks, Rosehip's Cromwell fired its 75 mm. This shot flew right over the main road.

" _Agh, damnit! WEAPONS FREE!_ " The order came, and chaos reigned.

"Forwards!" Anchovy shouted.

"Yes, Duce!" and the P40 medium tank rumbled forwards a few meters until it showed itself in the street.

In a free-for-all, the Ōarai team tanks have emerged and began blasting away at the five Suvorov tanks caught in the middle of the road. Amidst the flying tracers, Anchovy looked for suitable target as the Suvorov tanks reversed out of their situation. Three light vehicles and two mediums, as Rosehip had scouted. Two were the large T-34-85 tanks that made the P40 seem diminutive, but the light vehicles were made of two T-70 light tank and an armored car. Only one of those was a prime target for a kill.

"The car! Fire!" Anchovy shouted and the P40 turret quickly aligned towards the armored car and fired with a puff of smoke from the muzzle blast, dust blew up and covered the alley. "Ack! Geez, its in my eyes…"

Outside of her own 75 mm in the P40, the other tanks were being lively as well. Rukuriri's Churchill also moved during this as the infantry tank rolled into the middle of the road, making itself known and a bullet magnet. However, the more significant combat multiplier was Saunder's Firefly, as it expertly fired towards the Suvorov tanks.

" _Get them!_ " A shout went through. Through the dusty environment with all the forces in play, three Suvorov tanks turned tail and made a bead out of this zone. Shots trailed them, but except for one ricochet off of a rear armor, the tanks were out of sight of the road. " _Crap, one got away._ "

" _Wow! We got one here!_ " The joyous cries came as they inspected their kills.

" _Don't be too happy, that's only two vehicles destroyed here!_ " Rukuriri stated the tally.

Anchovy sighed in worry, "Only ttwo?" She looked out and saw the three wreckages with white flags on top. Only an armored car and a light tank remained from the force. "Geez, where's their army? I thought they were a big group!"

" _Hah! If they keep walking into our ambushes like that, we'll wither them down in no time!"_ Rosehip shouted proudly.

" _Well disciplined to move into an enemy entrapment like that!_ " Sodoko said in near-compliment.

" _No, no, Something's not right..._ " Naomi pondered. " _You don't just open an engagement without spotting an enemy like that…_ "

" _Well maybe they do things differently there,"_ Aya replied.

" _That's not it… Rukuriri, we need to relocate all of our forces before-"_

Then the skies boomed again.

" _Oh no, not again!_ " Ayumi cried out.

" _Artillery barrage incoming! Take cover!_ " Rukuriri ordered, and everyone did their best.

" _Drats! So they were conducting reconnaissance by fire!_ " Naomi shouted through.

Anchovy didn't care for that, she got back down into the tank and closed the hatch, these artilleries were way too scary to stick your head out for that.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

The echoing blasts of large caliber guns echoed down the bocage.

"There they are," Mikko said as she drove them closer.

"I'm not so sure about this Mika…" Aki commented. "What are we suppose to do? We've only got a 4.5 inch howitzer. It worked against the American artillery because they were exposed… but these are heavy self-propelled guns! In fact, I'm worried the ammunition might not be sufficient!"

Mika examined the guns as the BT-42 drove towards their general area, the blasting artillery fire providing enough sound to drown out the motor of the BT-42.

"Not to mention, there's like… at least four of them! From the fire pattern that is, but… even considering all options, they've got an edge," Aki finished as the BT-42 drove cross-country towards the area. "Mika, are you listening to me? Mikaaaaaaa."

"It's as Nishizumi said… 'there's no path a tank cannot traverse.'"

Aki looked at Mikko who was still absent-mindedly following her driving orders through the path with proper speed.

"Mikko, stop in that foliage clearing towards the left" Mika spoke as she continued to listen to the artillery shells.

"Ja!" Mikko said as the BT-42 made its lurch towards the direction Mika spoke of. Finally, she lurched up on both brakes and as the tank slowly came to a stop. "We're here!"

"Alright Mika, what's the plan?" Aki asked, hoping that she would have something up her sleeves, or maybe in her kantele. Anything really.

"Hmm, well," Mika said, her body leaning on the side of the BT-42 turret. "I was thinking about borrowing us a bigger gun."

"...huh?" Aki and Mikko both were stunned by this gesture.

"C'mon, let's go," Mika said as she climbed out of her hatch, leaving her kantele inside a special box compartment in the BT-42.

"W-wait Mika!" Aki and Mikko clambered out of their hatches as they followed Mika.

* * *

"Fire!" vehicle commander Oleg said as the 152 mm ML-20 howitzer inside the ISU-152 recoiled heavily as the 40 kg round blasted out of the vehicle. The gun was fully elevated, and enhanced by the trench the crew have dugged out beneath the vehicle to angle it upwards.

"Clear out!" Pavel shouted as he opened the breech. Due to the elevated gun platform, the shell simply dropped out and hit the rear superstructure end wall due to gravity. Anatoly in his loader seat chucked the shell out through the open loader hatch to his right. Once done, he then reached to the massive rack of more six inch shells and grabbed the next available high-explosive charge. Fighting gravity and his own weariness, Anatoly heaved the 152 mm round into the breech which Pavel sealed with the propellant charge, then closing the breech to seat the rounds. "Up!"

"Hold fire, Lev!" Oleg spoke to the gunner as he listened to the radio.

" _Target splashed! Fire for effect!"_ The artilley section commander ordered.

"Comrades! Fire for effect! Three round burst!" Oleg shouted, with Anatoly and Pavel groaning in response.

Three rounds of 40 kilogram shells in quick succession was a tall order to a normal man, and a tall order to a loader after hours in a combat condition. Anatoly used his tanker coat to wipe off the grime and sweat off his face, uncaring of the various other smears and humidity that smothered the tight crew compartment.

However, they had a role in achieving Suvorov victory, so Anatoly stretched his arms for the exertion they will soon undergo.

"Gunner, fire!" Oleg shouted and the 152 mm echoed its boom. Anatoly waited for Pavel open the massive breech and for the shell to hit the superstructure, then move on to chuck it out of the rear hatc-

"Hello."

A girl stood outside the rear hatch, standing on the leaning rear engine deck staring into the crew compartment. Anatoly stared gobsmacked with the shell hanging in his hand. This girl, with a striped hat that makes her head look like a mushroom cap, was like a beautiful angel dressed in blue, here to cleanse the tainted interior of their box.

"I'll take that," she gingerly offered her arms towards the shell in Anatoly's hand. He instinctively gave her the shell as she took it into her arms. "Ooh, this is heavy," she said as she tossed it to the side, clanging with all the other discarded shells outside the tank.

"Anatoly!" Oleg yelled inside. "What in tarnation is taking you so l-"

The crew now had their attention to this sight outside their gun, and their mouth also drop open. Whether awed by her beauty, or by the sheer unfeasible chain of logic that lead to why she is there, they could not wrap their head around it.

"Now, if I may," the girl moved in for a conversation. "I would like to inquire about the possibility of acquiring this vehicle."

The men inside looked at each other, still stunned. Anatoly then looked at her, and in the most polite manner, "...no?"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

"Fire!" Miho shouted as the Panzer IV turret fired to its rear, hitting the pursuing IS-3. The 75 mm comically bounced off the front armor. The IS-3 returned fire promptly.

"Turn!"

Mako put the Panzer IV in a quick drift, the 122 mm round skimmed by them with its violent velocity, with the girls skidding off the main southeastern road back into a minor intersection that goes back to the main southwestern road.

"I don't know how long we can keep this up Ms. Nishizumi," Hana said. "This is our fourth revolution around; we can't penetrate at all from the front and time is short!"

"Any time we can get for this will be well spent!" Miho replied as they rumbled down the road. The IS-3, with stunning maneuverability, followed suit behind them with little trouble.

"Miporin! They've got the kill zone set-up!" Saori shouted optimistically.

Miho looked towards the end of the road and saw the muzzle end of Turtle team's Hetzer. "I see it!"

No better ambush plan can be conjured up. The Panzer IV will lead the IS-3 into the main road, where the space will be used to attack the IS-3 from all sides. Nonna's IS-2 in one direction aiming towards the front, the Hetzer on the opposite end aiming at the rear, and two T-34-85 on both sides. Any normal tank in World War II would be decimated by such an attack.

"Up!" Yukari shouted.

"Alright…" Hana said as she steadied her aim. The IS-3 was still right up close behind them, the muzzle pointing towards them in a menacing fashion. Hana kept her crosshairs right around the turret despite the bumps that throttled around the Panzer IV's suspension.

"On my signal Hana," Miho said as she watched the Panzer IV speed towards the intersection towards the main road. "...Fire!"

"On the way!" Hana fired as she shot the round.

This round did not spark as it hit the IS-3 armor, instead it made a _FWOOMF_ as white smoke blasted off the impact. The special smoke round for the 75 mm gun made its mark as it spread around, covering the IS-3 optics as it sped forwards.

"Mako, turn here!"

Mako put the Panzer IV in a hard turn as she got out of the way of the IS-3. Anglerfish drove off forwards as the IS-3 moved forwards, with bits of smoke still clouding its front.

"Now everyone!" Miho said in the radio, and the ambush was sprung.

The Jagdpanzer 38(t) inched forwards while the IS-3 was blinded, exposing itself for the delicate target. At the same time, Nonna's IS-2 down the road exposed itself for the best targeting and act as the attention spotlight, and then there are Klara's and Katyusha's T-34-85 on the flanks of the main road.

"Fire!"

* * *

The smoke clouded the vision ports on the IS-3 as it moved forwards.

"Guide us through, Naydenov!" Erik shouted as his left hand held onto a grip among the momentum, with his right hand clutching onto the rear, the finger clicking and clacking.

Naydenov drove on.

 _Panzer turned right_.

Naydenov felt the medium tank as it followed through the momentum of the brakes upon the tracks. He lurched on the brake lever and the forty-eight tone of mass slid over towards the right as it headed down the main road in pursuit.

 _Engine start_.

Naydenov felt the momentum in front him, a heavy tank with lumbering steel, powered by a diesel engine. _An ambush..._

 _Three more...Three more tanks around._

"Commander, we are in a kill zone!" Naydenov shouted.

"So I see," Erik looked out his cupola. "On your call, Naydenov! Gunner, target on my command!"

"Yes!"

The IS-3 continued forwards as the crew braced themselves.

 _Rear tank destroyer is exposed now…_ Naydenov evaluated as he followed his instinct. _A flower blooming on my field…_

The discharge of gunpowder, and Naydenov made his move.

* * *

"Fire!" Miho shouted and so her team did. The IS-2 and Hetzer fired in unison towards both ends of the IS-3. _We did it!_ Miho thought.

The IS-3 screeched as metal and concrete meet in an opposition of forces, the IS-3 quickly drifted into a diamond formation towards its 11 o'clock in a matter of seconds. The 122 mm pasted onto its front armor with stunningly little effect, ricocheting off towards the air. The Hetzer's 75 mm that willingly headed towards its rear instead struck the angled side armor of the IS-3, and outside of splashing the storage boxes, no effect was seen. Even more so that the IS-3 started reversing.

"Gugh!?" Miho was astonished. "K-Katyusha!"

The two T-34-85 moved in to respond.

" _Got you!_ " Katyusha cried out as her T-34-85 fired right into the side armor where the Hetzer's 75 mm sheared off. The 85 mm round hit home! " _Yes!_ _Got it!"_

Or so she thought, to everyone's horror, the IS-3 made its defiant stance as its turret rotated towards its left.

" _T-that can't be! It was a straight-on hit!"_ Katyusha cried out in the radio. " _K-Klara! Fire your shot!_ "

Klara's T-34-85 on the other side of the IS-3, did not respond or fire.

" _Klara!?_ "

" _C-Commander Klara?! Are you alright?"_ One of Klara's crew member shouted, heard through Klara's radio.

"What's going on?" Miho asked.

Someone justled inside the tank and someone said cleared into the radio. " _Commander Klara is not responding!"_

" _Klara!_ " Katyusha shouted.

* * *

The firing stopped around them as they got their bearings.

"Time to play our hand," Erik said as he looked at the unfired T-34-85. "Gunner! Target that Kraut Škoda behind us! Loader, prepare for rapid load!" He said as he tapped the turret metal loudly.

"Yes sir!" The turret crew responded. The gunner started the power traverse left while the loader held onto an AP round in his lap. At the same time while Naydenov reversed, he understood his command and turned the tank hull in favor for the turret traverse time.

In no time, the IS-3's 122 mm gun was pointed at the tank hull's 9 o' clock right onto the Hetzer.

"Firing!" The gunner cried and the 122 mm blasted away.

"Next target! That Joseph bastard to our right!" Erik said without confirming the end result against the Hetzer. As the turret and hull traversed towards the right, he saw, through the single periscope on his cupola, the cute tank destroyer there with a twenty-five kilogram projectile on its glacis plate, more noticeable than the white flag waving on top.

As the tank traversed, the loader hurriedly placed the projectile into the open breech. Erik grabbed a propellent case from a storage bin at his position and held it as the loader pushed his part in, then he grabbed Erik's bit and finished the job. The other enemy tanks started coming in as the tank turned, perhaps assuming that the 122 mm was still loading. How wrong they would be, right as the gun breech closed up at that moment.

"Commander! Enemy panzer with the flag on top! Permission to engage?!"

Erik slammed his boot onto his gunner's shoulder. "Original target, gunner!"

The gunner silently obliged as the 122 mm gun steadied onto the IS-2 down the street.

* * *

"He should still be loading!" Miho shouted. "Move in for a better-"

The IS-3 fired its 122 mm again. The tracer round zoomed across down the main road and crashed onto the turret front of the IS-2. The IS-2 submits its defeat as a white flag emerged from the turret top.

"N-nonna!" Katyusha cried out loud enough that the radio wasn't necessary.

" _My apologies, Ms. Katyusha,_ " Nonna said bitterly.

Then the IS-3 continued reversing, making its distance from the three remaining medium tanks as the 122 mm picked its target.

"What should we do Miporin?!" Saori shouted as the IS-3 menace remained.

"It's facing towards us," Mako said in her dull voice.

Miho looked on the scene. The ambush had fallen apart, and all that was left was her Panzer IV and two T-34-85. What's there left? All that investment gave her a small share of the return.

Miho got back to the radio, "Katyusha, Klara, fall back now!"

" _What?!_ " Katyusha was incredulous. " _Not this scenario, we've outnumber that_ _сука three to one! The odds are in our favor!"_

A transmission interrupted abruptly, " _No Ms. Katyusha! We must withdraw now!"_ Klara shouted.

" _K-Klara?!_ "

" _Withdraw!_ " Klara shouted once more as her T-34-85 moved along.

The insistence prompted Katyusha to move along, following Klara out of the mess of the street. Miho watched the IS-3 trail the tanks with its gun as they made a run for it.

* * *

"They are on a run, Kat!" The loader said ecstatically. "Hah! Take that!"

"Nice going Naydenov!" The gunner shouted. Naydenov responded with a nod that the gunner could not see. "What is next, commander!?"

Erik looked at the trails of the fleeing tanks through the single vision port available to him. "So she's still suffering…"

"Commander?"

Erik pondered as he sat in his seat with his eyes closed, as though he was thinking about then used his right finger. _TAP TAP, TAP_ , he sounded on the metal armor of the IS-3. Naydenov shifted the gear smoothly back to a forward momentum, the gunner and loader fell off balance from the sudden momentum.

"You know Kat, when you are ordering Naydenov something. Tell us all please so we can brace?" The loader said.

Erik simply reached over and patted him on his left shoulder with his right hand, the loader wincing in pain from the force applied. "Follow that panzer."

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

"Rounds complete!" Kursant Georgiy shouted through the radio as he lied back onto his seat. The crew inside the ISU-122 nearly collapsed, after the burst of 122 mm rounds fired for the artillery fashion through the A-19 gun, the crew got a break inside. Gravity tolling on their posture as the ISU-122 remain in an elevated position.

However, the small moment of respite is not to be taken as a lull in the fighting, and so Georgiy got back up and onto the radio. "All Battery 3 units, state your conditions."

" _Battery 3 leader, this is Battery 3-2, rounds complete!_ " The neighboring ISU-152 to Georgiy's ISU-122 left side replied. Georgiy listened in for another response, but it never came.

"Battery 3-1, This is Battery 3 leader. What is your status?" Georgiy stated through his radio as he looked out the single vision periscope he has, the small view not helping much. "Battery 3-1, Battery 3-1, do you read?"

"Is something wrong sir?" Kontiv the loader said behind him.

Georgiy only gave a concerning nod as he opened up the hatch on top of him and looked out towards the right. The ISU-152 that is call signed Battery 3-1 was not responsive. Georgiy tried once more on the radio, "Battery 3-1, Battery 3-1, what is your status?"

Suddenly, the ISU-152 that was Battery 3-1 moved forwards, climbing out of its hole that held it at its elevation, coming up before crashing down onto the level ground.

 _Well, at least it is not Oleg and the others being incapacitated from the fumes again_ , Georgiy thought with the moving ISU-152.

Then the ISU-152 started turning its hull towards Georgiy.

A little concerned, Georgiy got on the radio again. "Battery 3-1, come in. What are you doing?"

The ISU-152 still had no response as it continued turning. Georgiy alarmingly then saw that menacing 152 mm gun start adjusting its orientation. "Battery 3-1! Stop that! This is not funny!"

Battery 3-1 then stopped in place. Georgiy's eyes widened, then he dropped into the safety of his vehicle, with the hatch falling with a _CLUNK_ and him locking it closed. The crew members inside looked at him with growing concern. "BRACE!"

Finally, a fantastic force crumpled the ISU-122. The six-inch round crashing into the 46 tons machine and sent its crew flying inside against the inertia. As consciousness returned to Georgiy, he found himself on the left side of the A-19 gun, the position opposite of the commander's position.

His head pinged with the sound, but he crawled up back towards his position for the radio. Disoriented, he could hear the frantic shouting through the radio in a questioning and shocked tone. He quickly pressed the speaker, "*Cough* All units… *Cough* we have a rogue vehicle at hand! I re-*Cough* repeat! Rogue vehicle!"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

"What went wrong…?" Miho thought on the ambush as the Panzer IV rushed forwards away from the Katukov.

"Yukarin! Didn't you say the IS-3 could be taken by the sides?!" Saori exclaimed.

" _That thing just chewed up the 85 mm and spit it right back out!_ " Katyusha added as well.

"It shouldn't be that tough…" Yukari said as she flipped through her notebook of tanks. "Yeah… its only 90 mm of armor on the sides, it shouldn't have… wait, sloped at 60 degrees?!"

"90 at a 60…" Miho went through the math. "That's way stronger than a Panther's front glacis."

"The rear was our best bet after all, it's only 60 sloped at a 48 degrees. Even the 75 should penetrate that!" Yukari tried to add kindling to hope.

" _Klara should've gone for that shot while we were there, but she didn't!_ " Katyusha shouted. " _What do you have to say for yourself, Klara?"_

Silence.

" _Uh, Klara? Are you there?_ "

More silence.

" _K-klara, I didn't mean what I said…"_

" _Cожалеющий Katyusha, Miho,"_ Klara's voice strained through, her voice filled with emotion and stress. " _I'm a failure, always have been… I don't know what came over me… I saw the Iosef 3 and I… he-"_

"Klara, it's fine," Miho said softly through the mic, with a voice that cradled with soothing aids. "I know this match is hard for you, fighting your old school. I know that feeling too, when I fought Kuromorimine back in the Senshadou tournament with Ōarai. Seeing old faces, reconnecting old ties, settling old grudges…"

Anglerfish looked up at Miho as though she was reminiscing the moment.

"It's hard to face the people and the place again after you've tried to get away from it. And I wondered what was the hardest part of it all. Was it facing the people you've left behind, or was it seeing if your decision was for the best?" Miho chuckled, "I'm still thinking about that today and now. It's a very odd feeling, but I think that's what happens when we've left a mark in a place. I know my experience may not be comparable to yours, Klara; but I think, in the end, the hardship shows that we still care for the place and want them to accept us after changing in the adventure we have taken." Miho steadied herself in the Panzer IV cupola. "After all, isn't that what Sensha-dou is about? The tank can go through mountains, rivers, fields, mud, and snow; but it always leave its tracks to mark the place it has traveled through, the dents to show the changes, and yet it remains with the crew who accepts it and expects it to perform the way a tank should be."

The three tank rumbled momentarily before Klara responded, " _Unless it is a T-34 and gets replaced after being shot up._ "

"Klara…"

Klara's soon chuckled. " _No, I understand. Thank you, Miho Nishizumi. We're not too different, you and I."_

"Are we?" Miho responded.

Klara took a deep breath and said, " _That IS-3 bring up some… memories of my time in Suvorov. I apologize for that. I won't make the same mistake again for the team."_

"That's good, Klara."

" _For Kuromorimine._ "

Miho paused as she found herself reminded as well on the overall goal of this match. This wasn't a sport like against the Americans or British, this was a match with stakes involved. "Then I hope you'll give me the best you've got."

" _You two done there?_ " Katyusha interrupted.

" _Apologies Ms. Katyusha_ ," Klara answered in her usual tone.

" _Yeah, because we still have to deal with the IS-3!_ "

"We still got the rear option," Yukari restated.

"That's what Prez tried to do from the rear. But that response time…" Miho thought about how the IS-3 switched to a diamond position so quickly. At first she thought it was a coincidence, made as a response towards Nonna's IS-2 and it just happened the misplace Turtle team's shot. However, watching the crew work with the tank in that road, they truly are more skilled than most. "Either way, we are now down to three tanks here…" Miho looked towards the north, the echoes of destruction sounded throughout the town. "And we're running out of time."

"Well what do we do then, Miporin?" Saori asked.

"Should we drift around them?" Mako asked.

Miho thought about the possibilities. An all-around ambush tactic didn't work on the IS-3 in the middle of the road, and its reaction time is superb, almost like it is a human entity. Side attacks are useless, rear is the only one weak point. Is it possible to lure it into a narrow road and flank it on all sides? Maybe… but with three tanks there is no acceptable losses. Plus that can take time, and time is running out. They have to catch him by surprise somehow with a trick, a trick against a heavy tank like… but that would require an angle...

Miho looked around as the Panzer IV and the two T-34-85 moved forwards. The buildings that made up this town were now smoldering debris piled up into hills all around. Could they work?

No, it was the only plausible plan she could think of. With Erik Katukov pursuing what's left of her platoon like a game, she'll play with this attitude to her advantage. "Katyusha, Klara, I have a plan. Listen to me closely!"

* * *

"* _KRzk*_ All units…* _BRzzk* Rogue vehicle!"_

Erik caught onto the radio real quick on that last note. "Repeat your last transmission."

" _There's a rogue vehicle here in the ISU-152 of Battery 3-1! He's just taken out Battery 3 leader and-!"_ The transmission was interrupted by another loud explosion. Erik corroborated this by the echo from the south. " _Oh that little- They just took out Battery 3-2!"_

Erik held onto that thought momentarily, a 152 mm gun was hijacked by the enemy? Quite interesting indeed… "Warn Battery 4 Leader of this predicament and steady on with the objective!"

" _Y-yes sir! *KZZK* Will do sir!"_

"Company 1 and 2 leader, what is your status?" Erik moved on.

" _HQ, this is Company 1 Leader. Company 1 and two are preparing phase blue in our assault coordination. Estimated time to breakthrough, five minutes._

"Affirmative, Company 1 leader. Proceed with the assault," Erik said as he put the radio away.

"Should we plot a course to deal with the predicament?" Erik's gunner said.

"Negative, that artillery piece is of no concern to us. Focus on that panzer."

The IS-3 continued its merry path pursuing "The Legend" and her compatriots. Despite that, the girls have only gone in circles.

 _Time is running out, Legend,_ Katukov thought eagerly.

* * *

 **Northeast of town,** **France**

"Hey! The artillery stopped!" Karina shouted in joy.

"I hope fortune continues to blow towards our favor!" Yuuki swooned over this moment.

Azusa took a moment to appreciate this new found peace as she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking at the sender, it was Saki.

"Hmm?"

"Tank."

"What?" Azusa looked out.

To her horror, an IS-2 tank was right behind the M3 in a small road behind their position.

"KARINA! REVERSE!"

"HA?! O-Okay!" Karina quickly shifted gear as the M3 Lee propelled its rear compartment right up against the IS-2, remaining inside the 122 mm's long barrel.

 _So they still had another heavy tank?!_ Azusa thought as the IS-2 tried to make the most of the room it had with its 122 mm. "Everyone! I'm having trouble here with an IS-2!"

The response came in with similar surprise over the presence of another IS, but for the time being, Rabbit team was face to face with a real powerhouse.

"Karina, shift slightly towards the right and then keep reversing!"

"Right! Right!" Karina shouted alongside the grating metal between the two tanks. Azusa looked out towards the IS-2 and saw its commander was opening up his cupola hatch for a view outside. He looked out and was shouting commands.

" _I can't let him get ahead of me!_ " Azusa thought out as the IS-2 oriented itself. From inside the cupola, she grasped the Browning machine gun and swung it to fire towards the general direction. _RA-TA-TA-TA_ the .30-06 rounds fired as she focused on the firing button.

"Wow! You got him!" Aya shouted as she looked through her optics.

"What?"

"Yeah, he fell back into the cupola!"

"That doesn't mean I hit him…" Azusa said, but she had second thoughts. _I didn't mean to hit him… I wasn't even looking…_

But the IS-2 stopped in place momentarily, giving Rabbit team the opportunity to outpace the IS-2, finally appearing onto its rear. "Now what, Azusa?!" Ayumi shouted.

"Ah!" Azusa refocused. "Fire towards the rear!"

"Alright!" The girls inside chanted as the guns oriented to the rear armor. "Ready! And! Fire!" They said in unison as the guns blasted away. However, instead of the spark of explosions on contact, white smoke erupted from the blast all over.

"What?!" Azusa said in surprise as this smoke clouded all over. "Did that IS… wait. Ayumi! What did you fire!"

"Uh…" Sounds of clanging inside as Ayumi seem to be managing through her inventory of ammunition for the 75 mm gun. "Uh… the M89?"

"Urgh, the smoke round again?! You have to be careful with the selections! Load AP!"

"I'm sorry! We barely touch this thing!" Ayumi said as the 75 mm gun breech closed up again with a new round.

"Is the enemy even still in front of us?" Aya said as she watched through the optics, the cloud was becoming dense and it was nigh-impossible to see in the cloud.

"Uh…" Azusa thought about it. "Karina, inch up a little."

The M3 Lee groaned as it slowly moved forward. Then _CLUNK_ as the tank hit metal in front with its gun. "Alright! Back up and open fire again!" Azusa shouted and so the M3 backed up again as the guns oriented towards the mark.

"Wait!" Someone cried outside and Azusa hesitated. The metal in front move closer in view as Azusa halted the firing process, and is met with two large track system rolling across the entire body of this moving metal. The hatch on the rear opens up… and Sodoko popped up from her Char B1 bis.

"Are you crazy!? Identify your target first before taking the shot!" Sodoko chastise Azusa.

"B-but the IS-2!"

"What IS-2?!" Sodoko shouted as she looked fruitlessly around in the thick smoke. "Where is it anyways?!"

"I-it was here…!" Azusa said as she looked about. _Did a heavy tank really just disappear in a puff of smoke?_

" _Hey, what's going on in there?!"_ Rosehip shouted. " _Why is there smoke everywhere?_ "

Suddenly, cannons blasted, brightening up the smoke cloud like a thunderstorm.

"What is that?" Sodoko shouted as she looked towards the source. "What the- _GAH!_ " A fantastic explosion rocked the area as Mallard team's Char B1 was blasted on its rear, a white flag sent up. The explosion force cleared the area of smoke, thinning the area to reveal the assailant, a T-34-85 tank.

"Ayumi! Aya! Target that T-34!" Azusa shouted. The guns replied quickly, with the 37 mm and 75 mm spectacularly bouncing off the front armor.

"Azusa, what do we do?!" Yuuki shouted.

"G-Get in close under that 85 mm!" Azusa ordered.

"R-right!" Karina quickly shifted the gear and the M3 Lee was propelled forwards.

"Why are we always getting in close to these big, scary guns?!" Aya shouted in frustration.

The M3 Lee went forwards, and though the T-34-85 reversed with a body language of caution, the M3 crashed into the front, bypassing the long gun barrel.

"Alright! We're in, load and fir-"

"Tank."

"Ugh?"

Then like divine intervention, the M3 Lee was taken from its ground with the T-34-85 into the air with a loud _B-KOOM!_ to their right, with about 8,000 kilojoules transferring through all the metal and protection system sending them flying across the ground into the nearby wall.

"Hey, you rascals!" Rosehip's voice cried out as her Cromwell propelled towards the scene. Speeding down the road towards the IS-2, the T-34-85 simply took aim at the projected path and fired right as Rosehip passed by, also sending her out of control with about 2,900 kilojoules of power. Her tank comedically top-spin right into the nearby wall at a 30 degree angle from her initial path.

* * *

 **South bocage fields, France**

The ISU-152 slugged about with its mass on the dirt road.

"This thing is such a sloth!" Mikko shouted as she struggled with the driving gear.

"Even a sloth can cross a road with time," Mika said as she viewed from the commander's position.

Aki was on her own corner at the left side of the gun, right behind Mikko. "We couldn't have gotten the 122 version?!" She shouted, her body trembling from the adrenaline pumping through her as she held onto a 152 mm projectile and all of its 40 kilograms worth of mass.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the bigger boom!?" Mikko responded aptly.

"You want to load this gun!?" Aki asked, showing the huge slab of metal that made up the six-inch gun's projectile.

"No, of course not! That's why this is fun!"

"Grrr…" Aki grumbled as her hands ached.

"Joy is not the sights we see, but the experience we do!" Mika said.

"I'm glad to see this experience is shaping our character!" Aki shouted sarcastically as she set the projectile onto a rack leading into the breech. She then reached down for the propellent casing.

Mikko continued driving the ISU-152 down the road towards the east direction of their sector as Aki loaded up the howitzer. The self-propelled gun creaked and groaned with every track the drive sprocket pulled over. Compared to the BT-42, the ISU-152 was a brute machine to move around.

Mika looked out through the single periscope she has available as Mikko drove with the driver's vision port opened without its armored housing. The engine whirred and coughed as they turned a corner. Mika spots an enticing target in the distance. "Just as the coordinate said, the other artillery is here."

Aki pushed in the projectile and propellent from the rack into the open breech as Mika closed it shut. She then got into the gunner's position and viewed through the rather simple gun sight with the lines and values for the different ammo type.

"Aki!"

"I see it!" Aki said as she moved the gun with the controls on her right towards the forward profile that is sticking out of the ground in its elevated position. "Stand clear!" Aki shouted as she pressed on the electrical firing trigger on the elevation gear. The massive ISU-152 boomed inside and outside as it recoiled, sending masses of smoke and dust up from its location. The crew could feel the change in pressure with their ears as the gun fired.

"Hit! Good job, Aki!" Mikko observed through her frot visibility. The vehicle on the other end shook violently upon being struck.

"Ho kay…," Aki sighed as she got up from her seat and reached for the 40 kg projectile stowed on her side.

"Enemy approaching," Mika relayed.

"Enemy coming up! Reversing!" Mikko shouted as she shifted the gears.

"Wait, I- gah!" Aki struggled to balance the round in her arms while standing in the moving vehicle. Mika reached over and pulled the breech lever, sending the 152 mm brass casing flying out and slamming on the rear end of the vehicle, making a loud clattering noise as it made contact on its way down, right as a round flew over them in a high-velocity streak.

"A 122 mm…" Mika said as she reached down for the 152 mm propellent case to throw into the gun as well. The three girl's blue Continuation uniform becoming stained with the grease and grime as they handled around the interior, especially as they grappled around the heavy ammunition used.

"Hurry up you two! That 122 mm is gonna load faster than this!"

"Aki!"

"Right!" Aki threw in the 152 mm projectile onto the loading rack and the propellent followed behind it. With a rammer, Aki pushed the two pieces into the breech quickly as Mika closed it. Aki then leaped over back into her gunner's position and looked through. "Where is it?!"

"500 meters, front!" Mika said as she looked out as well.

"Hit it Aki!"

Aki slowly adjusted the sight towards the remaining vehicle. The ISU-122, a vehicle of the same type as the ISU-152, but with only a 122 mm A-19 gun instead of the 152 mm ML-20. As Aki looked at it through the sights, the reticle slightly above the vehicle, she could stare down the darkness in their 122 mm gun, showing their straighter trajectory. _It's now or never_!

Aki pressed the trigger and the ISU-152 fired once more, its recoil booming in the fields.

"Ah!" Aki could hear Mikko react, then a _KRR-KLANCK!_ crunched right on their front armor, taking them up a tad higher than the recoil did as the entire crew compartment shook. The girls fell out their chairs around the spacious crew compartment. Despite the explosion and confusion, their ears picked up the metal whirring of a white flag popping up on their vehicle.

Aki could only think of one thing, "Did we get them?"

Mikko and Mika got up towards their respective vision sights to witness their target. Aki only saw their grinning faces looking back at her, and that was good enough as she laid in exhaustion on the vehicle floor.

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

" _Miho, are you sure this will work?!_ " Klara shouted incredulously through the mic.

"It's all we have left!" Miho as the fighting around the town grew lively once more. "I'll smoke him and then split up! After that, it's all down to the plan and your actions!"

" _Got it Miho-sha!_ " Katyusha shouted. " _Klara! Don't get cold feet now! You're with me after the signal!_ "

" _R-right!_ " Klara responded.

"Up!" Yukari shouted as the gun breech of the KwK 40 closed up. The turret, facing towards the rear, aimed at the IS-3 turret. The Panzer IV and its companions drove into a main road.

"Fire when ready!" Miho shouted as she steadied herself on the cupola. She wanted to stay visible for Erik. Then the 75 mm gun fired right into the IS-3 and blasted smoke all over the tank. "Go!" Miho gave the word and arm signals towards the following T-34-85 tanks.

" _Good luck, Miho-sha!"_

" _Удачи!_ " The two said as the T-34-85 splitted up to the side into the small road intersection to Miho's right, the tank's left.

As the IS-3 moved forwards, Miho kept the attention on her by grabbing hold of the cupola-mounted MG 34 once more and firing a burst towards the projected location of the IS-3. _BZZTBZZTBZZTBZZT,_ the fast firing machine gun spat out the rounds, followed by the clanging on metal in the smoke. Miho looked on as the IS-3 then bellowed out from the smoke, continuing unfazed towards the Panzer IV.

"Well, we got phase one done!" Saori shouted as she listened.

"It's only a matter of time now!" Miho shouted. She got onto the radio. "Units on the north, how is the situation up there!"

" _We can sum it up in a single rude word!_ " Rukuriri shouted as the fighting ensued. " _They've renewed their efforts and…"_ Her transmission was cut off.

"All units up north, I need you to listen. I need you to buy me another one minute! That's all I need!"

Miho listened in, but got no response. Outside of the little chase she is in with the IS-3, the fighting in the north intensified. _Just one more revolution around… please!_ Miho prayed. She just need to go down that street!

* * *

 **Northwest of town,** **France**

"C'mon you bastards!" Kay shouted as the disabled M4A3E2 fired at its target. "We ain't moving from here!" She shouted spiritually, though also literally considering the status of her suspension still.

" _Kay! We're not doing so g-GAAH!"_ Alisa shouted as her M4A1 took a hit.

"Damn it! We lost her!" Kay shouted as another round flew towards her tank, clanging viciously against the armor.

The renewed assault has tenacity in it. The Suvorov crew are maneuvering around the roads and sliced through her left flank with Alisa gone. Kay quickly glanced between the T-44 in front of her and the road to her left for any tanks.

"Kay! This is our last HVAP!" Her loader cried out.

"Hold it! Switch to AP! Wait for my command!"

The loader nodded as she gingerly placed the valuable round back into the storage on the bottom. The T-44 came out again and with liberty took a potshot at the M4A3E2, glancing off the tip of the gun mantlet top.

"Gunner! Aim towards the left at 10 o'clock! A T-34-85 is gonna come outta there soon!"

" _Kay! This is an emergency!_ " Naomi radioed in as the turret started swaying left towards the direction.

"No kidding!"

" _The east sector is folded! We're being overrun and-_ * _KRzzrk** Gah!_ " Naomi's transmission was interrupted by her 17-pounder firing. " _No! Get the ammo from the- oh cra-"_ The radio transmission finally ended with the crash of a tank round on metal armor.

The T-34-85 popped out and the gunner fired, glancing the turret front. The T-34-85 took a potshot with its 85 mm. Meanwhile, soon out the right vision slit of the cupola, the T-44 came out and advanced towards Kay for an angle on the side armor, knowing the turret is pointing the wrong way.

 _Well… this is it,_ Kay thought as her tank was getting flanked. Suddenly, a crash happened on her right where the T-44 was and stirred her attention. Looking out the cupola, she saw the cause. "Nishi!"

"We'll hold them off with the strands of our guts if we have to!" Nishi yelled as her Type 97 Chi-Ha had crashed itself right on the T-44 tank, throwing it off course and into a halt. Fukuda's Type 95 Ha-Go jammed itself on the 85 mm gun, causing it to be unable to align towards the M4A3E2.

"Gunner! Take out that target!" Kay quickly commanded. The M4A3E2 turret continued swinging in alignment to the T-34-85's speed of maneuvering and then the gunner fired, placing a 76 mm into the side hull! "Yes!" Kay shouted as the turret faced towards their near 8 o'clock direction towards the center of the town.

A hail of gunfire came from the direction the turret was pointing. Red tracer machine gun rounds rained towards the M4A3E2, clattering all over and forcing Kay down to look through her vision blocks.

A Soviet IS-2 heavy tank came up menacingly, with a sparkling muzzle blast on top firing those tracers. The crew member behind the DShK on top of the IS-2 turret fired the 12.7 x 108 mm rounds out. These rounds, with a kinetic energy able to pierce 20 mm of armor, riddled the area.

" _Ah! Gah!_ " The fast rounds blasted on Chi-Ha-Tan tanks and created sparks. While Nishi's Type 97 tank shrugged the sparks off, Fukuda's Ha-Go sputtered and stopped on these hits, a white flag raised from the tank.

Then the 122 mm gun fired, right into the M4A3E2's left side and sending it skidding across a few meters on the ground, further destroying the suspension.

"Ggh…" Kay recovered as the mechanism on the Jumbo's turret clicked open, and projected the white flag. The sound of a T-44 reversing could be heard to her right.

"I won't let your defeat go down in vain!"Nishi shouted as the pitiful sound of the 57 mm howitzer fired and crashed onto the T-44 front glacis. The T-44 responded only in kind with its 85 mm.

With that done, the tanks around Kay soon drove towards its new destination, and Kay got onto the radio.

"Miho… The north is lost, we're out of time now!"

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

"All the units in the north have been wiped out!" Saori relayed as the Panzer IV continued on.

"We've reached the endgame now," Mako commented.

"One more turn here!" Miho shouted, staying focused on her current situation. The Panzer IV made a quick right turn and were back on the main road that they've started. How many revolutions have they made running away from the IS-3? Too many, it is time to make a revolution against the path. "Mako, turn left in that road there!"

Mako swerve the Panzer IV back and forth as it broke off the usual path into the road. It was a narrow road in and that was their objective.

* * *

"They've broken off the main path…" Naydenov said out loud through the intercom. "Narrow road."

"Fair enough, keep pursuing. The assault team is cleaning up and joining us now." Erik said. Time was up for Miho Nishizumi. His force has eliminated her rearguard and the floodgates are open for the remnants of his troops to surround Miho and her companions. _Time is up, 'Ms. Legend,' what surprise do you have for me now?_ Erik thought as Naydenov angled the IS-3 to fit squarely into the narrow road.

The road was indeed quite thin with the masses of rubbles on both sides, but the IS-3's three meter width could fit in. As it went in, the pike nose seem to act as a separator, tearing through the bits of debris that stuck into the IS-3 path.

" _Commander, sir! We're almost at your coordinates!"_ The company leaders replied as Erik listened with glee.

"Roger that. Surround the road path at this lower right section of the grid! No one goes in and out and hold fire!"

" _Y-yes sir!"_ The reply came.

Erik put the radio away and knocked on the IS-3 interior with his right hand with a _TAP TAP_ , and then Naydenov continued forwards through the road. It's only a small curved road according to the map, about 150 meters and then another intersection.

So around the blind spot of the curve, an object came propelling towards them.

"C-commander! It's the Panzer!" Naydenov shouted as the IS-3 looked front towards them.

Erik looked out and could not believe it. Ōarai's Panzer IV was coming in, charging right towards from their front with Miho Nishizumi observing over her open cupola. "They've moved into attack position…" Erik said.

"What?" His two turret crew members said with similar disbelief.

"Naydenov, armor front. Gunner, shoot that Panzer!"

But the Panzer IV came in fast along the curved road, following the curved path almost seamlessly like a railroad right into the IS-3 pike nose. The 122 mm aligned itself carefully and fired, the 122 mm flew towards the left and missed the Panzer IV by inches.

Erik Katukov watched as Miho Nishizumi rapidly closed in the speed with her Panzer IV with a head-on attack. He could see 'The Legend' brace herself on the cupola, and realized how committed she was to this act. He only saw this mere meters before Miho rammed her 26 ton medium tank right into the 46 ton heavy tank.

Inelastic collision was in play and the forces involved pushed the IS-3 back. The physics threw Erik and his crew off balance from the impact as the inertia was put into motion. However, after the initial push, the IS-3 came to a gradual halt as the kinetic energy was lost and the IS-3 weight came to its aid.

Katukov got his bearings back and listened at the grating metal as the Panzer IV, with all its effort of pushing, is now moving a slab of immobile metal. Erik opened his cupola to make sure he was indeed seeing what has transpired. Indeed, Miho Nishizumi was pushing her Panzer IV right alongside the IS-3. After a few seconds, Erik established that it was indeed a fruitless effort, the IS-3 wasn't going anywhere under that Maybach horsepower. The only value worth mentioning from this tactic was that the Panzer IV has run itself under the length of the 122 mm gun as the gunner tried and with equal futility tried to align the 122 mm towards the Panzer IV.

" _Sir! We have secured your rear access!_ " Erik received the message and looked to his rear. His fellow comrade-in-arms in their medium tanks watch from the rear outside of the tiny road, just as he ordered.

" _This is Company 1 leader, road secured!"_ They also replied from the other end of the road.

In that sense, the Panzer IV has been rightly surrounded.

" _Permission to assist inside, sir?"_ A crew requested.

"Negative," Erik declined, "Are the roads outside secured?"

" _Yes sir. No one in, no one out._ "

Erik nodded as he received the confirmation. Suddenly, the Panzer IV fired its gun point-blank right on the turret front, which just slides off the sloping turret sides off to the rubble. To his disbelief, the Panzer IV tracks was still spinning forwards, right into the IS-3.

 _Your efforts and dedication is valiant, 'Legend',_ Erik looked on at the Ōarai championship winner. _...But is this your last move? All that effort, all that talent, all those gifts, and all you can do is run on my front armor and fire aimlessly?_

Erik looked at Miho, who returned his glance. He looked for something from her, was there something she was hoping for? There was no one left outside to help her here. There was no room in this road to outmaneuver the IS-3 here. Was she aiming for a weak point? The turret front cheeks were 250 mm thick and the sides were curved to present an efficiently sloped design. The only saving grace now was just the fact that the Panzer IV was right under the gun.

 _Is this really it?_ Erik eyed Miho, trying to transmit his questions to her with his eyes only. Miho's glance darted with a hand towards the machine gun on her cupola. The contraception swayed to his direction and only his reaction saved him from receiving a burst of round into his face. The green tracers blasted up and then rattled his cupola that doubled as a shield. The machine gun firing concentrated right on that cupola and so Erik closed it back up and buttoned up.

"Feisty, ain't she?!" The gunner said in a frustrated tone.

Erik felt empty. _So this is really it?_ He still questioned. He deeply sighed as the rattle of cannon rounds and machine gun bullets rattled off the front armor at point-blank range. "As you wish 'Legend'," the last word was filled with irritation, "Naydenov, forwards!"

* * *

The IS-3 heavy tank in front of them rumbled into life.

"Mi-Miporin?" Saori said nervously as the monster in front of them came to life.

"Steady Saori…" Miho said as she released her grip on the MG 34.

"That IS-3 has a 520 horsepower engine…" Yukari stated the specifications. "It's got a horsepower ratio of about 11. We only have 300 horsepower here."

Then the IS-3 pushed forwards, the Panzer IV is propelled forwards, but the running tracks run it right back into the IS-3 front.

"Ack! How violent!" Hana reacted.

"Mako! Don't let them create the space for their gun! Stay up close!"

"Okay."

The Panzer IV came up, and then the IS-3 moved forwards again as it pushed the Panzer IV around. Anglerfish was obviously out of their weight class, but they stuck on, staying up to the IS-3 as it moved slowly forwards. The two locked on with their front plates.

"Keep going Mako!" Miho said as she looked back at the distance they've been pushed too. "We've got some more distance to go!"

The Panzer IV soon found itself dragged back as the IS-3 pushed it. The screeching of the metal on the ground proliferated throughout the narrow road, the sound waves bouncing in the area to fill in the void. However, that sound was good for Anglerfish, that was the sound of resistance.

Then it stopped with the crackling of metal. The familiar sound of track pins snapping and the tracks being thrown.

"Uuuuuhhh…" Saori's voice took a dip.

"We just lost our tracks," Mako said aptly.

"Oh dear," Hana worriedly said.

"Almost there!" Miho shouted.

In between the piles of rubbles stacked up high on the sides, the IS-3 had only one direction and pushed forwards one last time. This big push sent the Panzer IV through a sickening grind on the road as its rubber roads and remnants of the tracks scatter with the propulsion. But as they did, the two tanks were in between the densest areas of the debris.

"Katyusha, Klara, now!"

* * *

"Naydenov, one more and push that tank outta here!"

Naydenov nearly pressed the metal to the pedal on the accelerator when his senses tingled. The sensation told him the message and he jerked the IS-3 to a halt. "Commander! Tanks on our left and right!"

What?!" Erik glanced out his open cupola again. "We're between devastation! Have you gone cra-"

Then he saw it. Two T-34-85 waiting for the IS-3. There were indeed no room in the horizontal plane. In that road, the debris had made positioning on the direct sides of the IS-3 impossible.

So the T-34-85s came from above, fortified above the IS-3 from the top of the destroyed building. The gun depression of these tanks are atrocious however, providing only a 5 degree angle below. So these tanks hung on the edges, with the gravity dropping the T-34-85 and its gun, right onto the IS-3 top.

No chances were taken, each T-34-85 were on both sides surrounding the IS-3. The one on the right came falling over the engine deck with its gun pointing down as it leaned. The second came right onto the turret area, its angle from the air negating the sloped turret armor side, hitting perpendicular on the 120 mm armor plates. In this T-34-85, a girl with pale-blonde hair watching from inside had her eyes starting right into Erik Katukov.

Erik's face sport out a wide grin, a sense of satisfaction overcame him. This was it, the gifts of 'The Legend.'

"Clever girls," He smirked as he swiftly closed his cupola with his right arm.

The two T-34-85 fired their 85 mm cannons right onto the IS-3 top armor. A fantastic blast occur on both ends of the Soviet heavy tank. Gravity overtook the two T-34-85 and both fell straight down to the ground, crashing over the terrain and landing on the side hulls, their white flags popping up over their knocked out status.

The white flag of the IS-3 popped up as well.

* * *

 **Aaannnddd… I did it! I finally finished the Battle versus Suvorov!**

 **I'm sorry for the long wait, real life is not a kind entity. In fact, I'm still gonna be busy, so getting this chapter out is the best I can do for the time.**

 **However, at the very least I can get past choreographing battles (which is hard) to now filling in the social interactions now for the plot forwards. Thing is while the start and results of the battles have a good foundation in my head, it is the decisions made during the battle to get the intended results reasonably that's the hardest for me to get right. At least, it will be this way until the fabled fight against Carius Academy, so stay tune for that!**

 **Once again, I would like to specially thank user** _ **Lightarc**_ **for assisting me throughout this chapter. I would also like to thank my long time readers who have stayed with me thus far. Believe it or not, this fic is already more than a year and a half old from its inception, so you guys sticking along with this adventure is pretty touching.**

 **If you haven't already, feel free to Favorite and Follow the story to keep up to date with the uploads. I know it isn't a steady schedule, but its the best I can do with my real world applications. Feel free to drop a review, it means a lot as well.**

 **I look forward to seeing you all on my next upload!**


	30. Tied Knots and Bonds

_**Girls Und Panzer: World Tournament!**_

 _ **Chapter 30: Tied Knots and Bonds**_

 **Spectator Stand, France**

The flash exploded into smoke as it covered the camera lens, drowning the screen with debris and dust. The screen flickered through different angles, all showing how much smoke engulfed the scene of interest.

"Wow," Emma stared at the spectacle. Hearing herself, she realized that every spectator were silenced as they stared in awe towards the screen.

The screen sparked a static as the image refocused. When the smoke cleared, the arena's setting became clearer. In the alleyway road, four tanks lay surrounded by an army of Russian tanks.

Right in the center, a defiant German Panzer IV stared down a Russian IS-3 that weighed nearly twice as much as the former. On the sides of the IS-3, two T-34-85 lay vertically up from the ground, sandwiched between the IS-3 and the buildings surrounding them, their gun barrels deformed from the gravity impact on the ground.

However, even in this dense dust; the visible, white fabric waved atop the masses of steel, gleaming as the sun shined through the dust. Three bare flags fluttered atop the site, two off the rear ends of the T-34-85 that stuck to the air in their positions.

The last one stuck up below the other two, right above the dome shaped turret of the heavy tank.

The screen scoreboard tallied up, and suddenly all the lights indicating active tanks on one side completely disappeared, and the graphics withdrew.

The speakers chimed as they made its announcement. " _Suvorov's flag tank has been eliminated!_ _Ōarai Compound Team wins!"_

The atmosphere crossed the breaking point. The crowd became euphoric, the area booming with their cheers.

"YEAH!" The majority of the crowd went as they stood and whooped.

"They did it, John!" Emma loudly shouted, hugging him too tightly for his comfort.

As the area riled up, Isabelle and Daniel sat there as they let the surrounding scene express their pure excitement.

"Well, they really did it," Isabelle said with a smile as Daniel's hand patted on her shoulder.

"Those little bastards made it, Isabelle! They're in the big league!" Emma came up shouting right into Isabelle's face with a voice louder than the equilibrium.

"Yeah, yeah they are, Emma."

"I still can't believe it! They actually did it! Hey, Wittmann! Ya Kraut! Look here! They-!" Isabelle look back at Hans Wittmann's last position, now empty seat. "Huh, he's gone."

* * *

 **South section of town, France**

As the dust was still settling, Erik Katukov walked alongside the exterior left side of his IS-3 on the busted concrete road. His left fingers dragged along the metal sides, letting the cold, dusty texture accumulate on his fingertips as he traced up towards one of the kill shots. An 85 mm metal shell embedded itself on the side hull near the engine deck. Its armor slope was negated as the shell traveled perpendicularly into the armor. He tapped the 85 mm lightly, it was still warm.

Erik continued tracing around the IS-3 towards the right side. Aside from all the glances from failed shots, the second kill shot was found embedded onto the turret's curved side, at just about a perpendicular angle at the tangential spot. From the shell's angle of attack, their rear ends were raised up high to show the tracer and computer units that does the penetrative work of the shells on target.

Erik traced the flow of the shell towards its original firing position, up in the air right by Erik as the two medium tanks that did the deed fired while under the effects of gravity. Now, the two tanks lay in a mess on the ground, disabled and immobile.

The crews were slowly getting out, no doubt affected by the shock of the impact. As they staggered out of the T-34-85 right besides Erik, the cupola remained shut as the driver and underbelly hatch opened for evacuation. The crew that got out shouted into the tank, calling out for someone still remaining inside.

He thought about the girl that stared at her from the cupola as she careened the T-34-85 off the rubble to make the shot. In that stunning moment, he felt like he was looking at a polar opposite version of himself. _It must've be her,_ Erik thought of the commander of the tank who executed the daring move. The eyes he saw made more sense now. They weren't filled with determination, but of hesitation. He looked at the closed cupola hatch again and sighed with a small smile of consolation before moving on.

He continued towards the front of his heavy tank. "I'm sorry, commander," a little voice perked from the front through a triangular hole that made up the driver's hatch. Erik looked inside towards Naydenov's face, shrinking away from his commander. "I didn't see the two tanks fast enough…"

Erik gave a sigh with a smile towards Naydenov, "It is quite alright my friend, it just shows that we all need to stay attentive to our surroundings, not just you. You did your job wonderfully."

Naydenov was still crunched up into his seat, a large dose of guilt still apparent in his aura. "W-what will you do now, commander?"

"The match is over Naydenov, you can call me by my name now," Erik told him. He then glanced over his right peripheral and saw several figures approaching. "As for me…"

He looked over towards the front of the tank and saw five female individuals cladded in dark navy blue blouses, with white collars coming out on top. His eyes quickly caught the girl in the foremost, with her brown hair only just reaching the shoulders.

Erik cleared his throat with a cough and clicked his tongue, "You must be Miho Nishizumi?" He said in English with a mild accent.

Miho reacted with a surprised look upon hearing him, yet her voice carry a low demeanor, "So you speak English?"

"A useful skill to have in this international market," Erik said. He then extends out his right arm, hand still covered in a black glove, "but first, a congratulations for your victory."

Miho eyes the arm cautiously for a second before using her respective arm to grasp it. As her hand gripped it, Miho's eyes went wide; Erik then firmly grasped with his hand and shook. As he let go, Miho was still left incredulous at her hand, and then Erik's own. "It's cold…" Miho muttered.

"Okay, okay, so we did win against you, huh?" A high-pitched voice echoed from the left side of the IS-3, as a child-like girl walked out of the rubble into the clearing. She took off her helmet that expelled her poofy blonde hair. "Yeah, it's all thanks to Katyusha's top-notch thinking!"

"Ah, 'Drifting Snow,'" Katukov said as he looked towards the girl.

Katyusha's face of smugness transformed to curiosity as she looked up, "You know me?"

"I do, I've heard a lot of you from a close source," Erik responded as he returned his look back towards Miho. "It seems Ōarai team's fighting prowess was considerably bolstered by this young women."

"What I-, young-, ah...Uh, its not really like that…" Katyusha stumbled upon the words. "Miho Nishizumi here was the one who made the right calls and… wait, what source?"

"I suppose the name 'Legend' fits your style quite well here."

"Mr. Katukov," Miho quickly interjected.

"Please, Erik is just fine."

Miho stood firm, "Erik, you know what we've been fighting for this match; I want my answers."

Erik nodded, "Right, I suppose we best get down to business, but the rubbles of this ruin is hardly a secured location. What say we move to somewhere more… sheltered?"

* * *

 **West of town, France**

As the afternoon pass by with the sun settling towards the west, the aftermath procedures of the match was underway.

Loud whirs of engines and machines echoed throughout the little mock town, towing away the many immobilized vehicles and rubble. Shouts of French and other languages broke through occasionally, usually accompanied in the order of shouting, a loud crash, then many more loud shouts in what can be presumed to be rude words.

In a distance outside from this mess, a tan canvas tent was erected. Two BA-10 armored cars stood outside as gate guardians for the shabby tent flaps as the events transpire inside.

The simplistic exterior was compounded by the interior. No floor matting as the grass spurted up around them, and the only noteworthy decorations were a large wooden table in the center and a few folding chairs. No windows were present to let light in, only a single LED lamp hung from above on a hook.

Inside, the respective captains that made up the Ōarai coalition sat inside with the Russian commander. Somehow, Darjeeling was able to get some piping hot water in for tea, with a set of fine china for everyone involved.

"This is better," Erik said as he adjusted the lighting from his seat position on the end of the table farthest from the entrance, "Although… there are a lot more people than I expected…"

"Yeah, sorry to crash your little parade here," Kay said, sitting across Darjeeling, closest to Erik.

"Ms. Nishizumi was transparent to us about her predicament," Nishi explained, sitting next to Kay on her left.

"We want to be as involved as we can to help out!" Anchovy chimed, sitting across Nishi; to the right of Darjeeling.

"So spell it out!" Katyusha finished off, sitting towards the right of Anchovy.

"Calm down you girls," Erik instructed, using his left hand in a calming motion to bring about silence. "All in due time."

"A few more minutes couldn't hurt, everything in its own time," Anzu said sitting across Katyusha. To her left at the other end of the table, Miho sat looking right into Erik's position. With the exception of the blowing wind outside, no other ambient noise permeated around them. Not even from Mika, who sat in the left corner of the tent nearest to the entrance, her kantele rested unused on her lap as she seemed to slightly doze off from latent fatigue.

Anzu heartedly chewed on a dried sweet potato as Darjeeling finished setting a teapot full of black tea. She poured a portion and slid a cup over towards Erik's direction. He grasped it with his left hand, though pausing as he glanced towards Darjeeling, who returned his sight with light confusion.

"You don't use additives?" He asked.

"I simply do not have any at the moment," Darjeeling chirped, "I hope you understand the circumstance."

"Keh keh, you students," he used his left hand and reached into the right breast pocket of his gymnastyorka shirt uniform. He pulled out what appears to be a plastic tube, in a shape not too unlike disposable shampoo bottles, filled with a creamy white product. "You need to learn to improvise in this world," He states defiantly as he poured a nice helping of this substance into his tea.

Darjeeling curiously looked on as the two items mixed. "I see, condensed milk?"

"Yes, plenty more at home too," Erik closed up the tube in the same left hand as he dips a finger from his gloved right hand into the tea and stirred. "Really sweetens the tea into a delectable product. Want some?"

"Uh, isn't that tea, like, scalding hot?" Kay asked with concern as Erik nonchalantly moved his right hand in a circular motion.

"He can't feel anything in his right hand," Miho answered.

Erik smirked as he shook the remnants of the tea off his finger and handed his additive towards Darjeeling, "You catch on fast, Miho Nishizumi."

"Wait, what do you two mean?" Katyusha asked.

He put his right arm back on the table, producing a rather uncharacteristic _CLUNK_. As the interests grow, he finally pulled the sturdy black glove off his right hand.

Small gasps fluttered as the limb revealed not flesh, but a mechanical contraption that fully resemble that of the human hand. The mechanical nature extend to the whirs and tubes that moved each digit independently, which Erik demonstrated by having each finger move independently as the machine whirred with each motion. As he moved his arm more, the whirring could be heard not from the end of his arm, but extending down further into his arm. From the exposed metal, red plates form the exterior like flesh to protect the large tubes and wiring that run down to his arm. It was a complicated piece of engineering that Erik laid out on the table top.

"Lost it in an accident about one and a half years ago," Erik answered the question that is in everyone's mind. "People seem to forget about all the deadly weapons a tank possess… the cannon, the machine guns, the personnel weapons, and…" he paused as he looked around at the girls, right as he caused the intricate machine to move in its own fascinating way,. "...and the heavy, steel tracks. Don't worry, it was only up to the elbow"

Some of the girls closer to Miho gulped as Erik finally picked up the cup of tea and sipped heartedly.

"Erik Katukov," Miho addressed from across the room, reining in the conversation. "We won this battle today, we defeated your IS-3 in that alley. On your terms told through your messenger two nights ago, I am now asking for you to hold your end of the bargain."

Erik placed the cup down, now nearly empty. "Right, I suppose so."

"Please, tell me what you know about Kuromorimine."

Erik's left hand, its flesh bare as always, reached towards his left breast pocket. "To be blunt, not much."

Miho's eyes widened. "Eh?"

Erik then took out a small envelope colored buff. An envelope only the size of a smartphone, with the otherside showing a flap sealed by string closure around the buttons. He waved the envelope in the air lightly. "This here, is the most concrete information we have on Kuromorimine."

"Just that?" Anchovy commented, also incredulous that all this was for a little flap of paper.

Erik then held the envelope flat between his fingers towards Miho Nishizumi, a gesture of offering towards her. "It's more real than anything else you've got, I assure you." Miho's eyes took a cautious look towards Erik and his item.

"Sounds like a trick to me," Nishi commented towards Miho.

Miho looked at that paper for one more instance before saying, "I need to know."

Erik looked into Miho's eyes as if examining for any remnants of hesitation, then he flinged the envelope like a card straight across the table towards Miho, falling onto the table and stopping just short of her seat. Miho picked up the envelope and inspected it. It seemed just as lightweight as Erik presented, no secrets around it except for what's inside.

"Whenever you're ready, Miho Nishizumi," Erik said, in an almost taunting way.

Miho looked down at the envelope and steadied herself as she unraveled the string ties. She unfolded the flap and reached in, her peers watching her. Her fingers caught on one single slip of parchment. She felt the feeling of printed laminated paper, a photo? She caught her grip and pulled it out.

Miho stared at the image for a while, then lightly gasped.

"What is it, Nishizumi?" Anzu asked as the others wait anxiously.

Miho stood and placed the single photo onto the center of the tabletop, its small size caused everyone else to come in for a closer look.

A color photo showed a predominant blue color of a large body of water. The structures all-around shows that of a large port with stacks of shipping containers, cranes, and other industrial items.

Two things differed from that simple image, from the angle the photo was taken as. A large bulkhead showing a red paint trimming around the waterline took up a large portion of the image's right side, with the sunlight shining through the structures atop. In the far distance on the left though, a large traditional building complex stood, eyeing from right across the port from where the bulkhead is.

"What's this about?" Kay asked as she held the photo closer to inspect.

"That bulkhead…" Miho started. "That's Kuromorimine…"

Katyusha then grabbed the photo and inspected it. "How can you tell? Just looks like any big ship to me."

"That's the aft of Kuromorimine… I know those detailings!" Miho explained as she let the others examine the details.

"The building complex in the background," Erik said as he took another sip of tea, "is the Carius Academy school buildings, bordering around Jade Bight in Germany."

"Erik, what's the meaning of this? Why is there this photo of Kuromorimine close to Carius Academy? Why are they there?"

"Indeed, why are they there huh?" Erik reformed that question towards the group. "I don't have any information about why the two are together." Miho was incredulous that Erik would suggest that Suvorov, the school they fought over, has so little on what they promised. "But, if you'd like to hear a perspective from someone's who've kept an eye on them, that's something I can offer."

Miho looked back at the photo.

"It's better than nothing," Anzu said to Miho.

Miho sat back down and sighed, "Very well, Erik. Tell us what you know."

"Well," Erik picked up the tea cup again as the laid back on the chair. "Let's see… I first got word of this… three months ago, now?"

 _Three mo_ _nths?!_

* * *

 **Tver Suvorov Military School, Russia (Three months ago)**

 _I first got word of this… three months ago, now?_ _I was with a team of intelligence cadets in training at the Command and Information Center of Suvorov, they were in the process of being trained in OPSEC with the team. It wasn't until about midday when…_

* * *

"Commander!" Yashin clicked his heel in a ready position as he stood behind Katukov.

Katukov turned around and saw his personnel marksman at ready. "At ease, what is it?"

"Received a report of interest from identity code D578CK, heavy activity involving the 'Crocodile' of 'Wilhelm Scream'."

"Outbound or in?" Katukov turned as he eyed the file that Yashin held.

"Out."

Katukov took the file. "Just another mill of the day load training?" he asked as he opened the file.

"No sir, at least five ships heading out of port. Ships also confirmed to be of the 'logger' types."

Erik looked into the file carefully at the detail. "Interesting… Very well. Tell 578 to keep tabs with his sources on the direction of the convoy."

"Yes, commander!" Yashin saluted and went onto his duty.

* * *

 _D578CK was an insider source in Germany, he was responsible for reporting on us about Carius Academy's activities. The event concerned around Carius' naval assets, which we like to keep an eye on since they usually mean transport of supplies or tanks. 'Logger' was a nickname for a class of transport ship. One of those transport ships can hold twenty Panzer IV tanks, or ten Panther tanks. Either way, with the number of ships involved, Carius was transporting a typical load for a tournament match. The curious part, as you might have imagined, was that the tournament was still three months away, and they were going out. Thus, their purpose piqued my interest. The first hypothesis was that perhaps Carius had taken a job as a glorified courier and were shipping new tanks from the factory to buyers, but then, three days later..._

* * *

"Commander, we've got a development in the tracking of 'loggers' three days ago."

"What is it now?" Katukov handed his current work in his left hand to a colleague as he strolled towards Yashin's sides with a tablet in his right.

"Sir, the types have confirmed to be traveling north for about 300 miles on the side of Denmark. However, the convoy had made a sharp turn towards the east as of 0630 local time. Instead of the predicted route around Norway, we are now speculating they are heading through the Skagerrak strait."

"Well that is good, that limits the destination to a few." Katukov brought up a satellite map on his tablet as he scrolled with his left fingers. "Maybe not Poland, rail would've been cheaper...Think it could go to those three countries here?" Katukov pointed on the map.

"No sir, I've just confirmed with the league representatives, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are not officially scheduled to receive any tank shipments. We are also not officially expecting anything, else we'd gotten word from the administrators at Kaliningrad."

"I see, so that just leaves two specific countries who could receive this."

"Yes, commander. Sweden and Finland. But no matter what sir, these ships are not registered under any merchant trade codes, so they aren't supposed to be transporting anything for trade purposes"

"Hmm, alright, keep an eye on them; see if maybe they have a tracking number or some-"

"Commander!" Another individual called his attention across the room as he ran up towards the two. "Incoming intelligence from our the Northern Fleet liaison!"

"What is it now, Corporal Smirnov?"

"Commander, a Zeppelin-class school carrier has been tracked since last week, it's only just today as it passed through the Barents Sea region that we have been able to identify it as the top Japanese school carrier Kuromorimine."

"Kuromorimine? What are they doing up in the Arctic Ocean?"

"From the ship's track log with the correspondence of the Pacific Fleet, Kuromorimine traveled there from the Bering Strait, commander."

"I'm aware of that strait, I'm asking if their motives have been identified."

"None that I'm aware of, commander."

Katukov analyzed at the two pieces of information at hand. "The situation is developing. Corporal, I want a constant track on that Kuromorimine school carrier. Same for you Yashin, same priority as the Carius Academy convoy."

"Yes, commander!" The corporal stated as he returned to his station.

"You think there's a correlation?" Yashin asked.

"Maybe… if the events continue at this pace… Have you and Yuri in QRSF on standby...with a 48 hours notice to action."

"Yes, commander!"

* * *

 _I had my reasons to believe there was correlation between the two. My first thought was joint-training_ _or something like that, not a trade or purchase. Foreign exchange was not beyond the realm of possibilities either, I'm sure many students in Japan have been eagerly looking at foreign schools for higher education. However, it was also within the possibilities that both events were complete coincidence and that they were not related. But about one week later, I found myself at the operations command room with the new intels._

* * *

A large multi-screen monitor spanning across a wall danced as six different screens portrayed their essential information, ranging from maps with GPS coordinates, weather conditions, time, and health reports. One screen remained black as it sat reserved for use. If these screens weren't enough, several intelligence operators sat in the room with their own set of computers to monitor the situation and information.

" _Hometown_ , _this is Former leader, we've got sighting of the targets at the coordinates. Current distance, five kilometers, over."_

Katukov leaned over the microphone as the other intelligence cadets in training processed this information on the screens. He spoke to Yashin, designated Former Leader, "Roger that, Former Leader."

" _Sending out drone now, Hometown. ETA to position, two minutes."_

"Copy that, prepare to conduct reconnaissance procedures from your pos."

" _Why are they in Gotland, anyways…?"_ Another voice crackled in.

" _Former 2, check your channel, you're in with Hometown."_

" _Whoops."_ A small crackle sounded as the other contact disappeared from the channel.

"Keep him in check, Former Leader."

But Former 2 raised an interesting point that Katukov has been mulling over since two days ago. Passing the Skagerrak strait, the transports avoided all major ports of Sweden and as they were making a turn to what seemed like Finland, they hit the largest island in the Baltic Sea.

Nothing was particularly odd about their landing at Gotland, Sweden. No, what was intriguing was that the Kuromorimine carrier followed the same exact path towards Gotland.

After that, the Quick-Reaction-Scout-Force was deployed, all of two men.

" _Hometown, drone is ready to send visuals_."

"Send it, Former Leader."

A green text appeared over the single blank screen saying [VISUALIZING]. A moment later, the black screen flickered and an overhead view of the darkened earth began playing. With the sun just barely rising at the region (and only early morning in Katukov's position) the landscape has only just the dawn's minimal light. A heads-up display showed on-screen to show the statistics of both the drone and the environment. As the camera focused, its recognition software picked up the people below, and soon square overlays appear on each object the software has identified as a human.

"At least fifteen individuals in the immediate vicinity," Erik read off the statistics. "...plus estimated thirty more in general area."

" _Confirmed on the ground, Hometown,"_ Former Leader spoke. " _Former 2 has identified armored vehicles down at the area, Tigers."_

"Panzer VI Ausf. E's…" Barov said from his computer desk.

"Yeah, someone write down the tanks in the scene. Panthers, Tigers, all of them and the numbers for each."

"Yes commander!"

" _Hometown, we've gotten a visual on one of the individuals on the ground for identity recognition, sending image now."_

In one of the screen, the image was rendered. A high-definition one from a digital camera in Former team's possession. The angle showed their position from the target of interest, their view of the land at dawn faced towards only one side, while the other remain with their backs facing towards the camera. Both sides wore black or grey attire, but the side facing the camera have an attire of grey jackets with black skirts. One of the individual's face became clear as the facial recognition software acted in the command center. Once the image finalized, a profile image was popped up.

"Maho Nishizumi of Kuromormine Girl's Academy," Erik Katukov recited the titled identity.

" _So the top brass of Kuromorimine's tankery is down there._ "

"Technically it's Sensha-dou," Erik interjected. "And I suppose the individuals facing opposite of them are Carius Academy personnel. Former Leader, can you identify anyone in the other group?"

" _Negative Hometown, all their backs are turned to us. No facial recognition can be acquired."_

"Can we get the drone to get a more lateral view for that?"

" _Negative Hometown, not at the altitude its flying. Any lower for a shot will risk detection."_

"Very well Former Leader, activate microphones then, see if we can work by audio recognition."

" _Roger that Hometown,_ " Yashin said. " _Standby, microphone initializing...momentarily…"_

As the software boots up, Katukov examined the scene still being played from the drone. By Maho Nishizumi's group and Carius Academy's group, there was present two Tiger I tanks for each side. However, zoomed out, a large assortment of German tanks can also be seen in the general vicinity. Two sides of them were separated with a 100 meter distance between, with a further distinction made in their type of camouflage. One side had only the tan _Dunkelgelb_ coat of paint on them, with black emblems. The other side was a lot more liberal with with their camouflage, with the two Tiger I tanks facing each other providing an interesting comparison. The tank on Maho Nishizumi's side had only the plain tan color, but the other had a myriad of colors in brown and green that breaks up the profile much better on the camera than the other.

Another sign was the craziness in the tank assortment. The side with clean tan paints had a wide variety of tanks; Panthers, Tiger IIs, Tiger Is, Panzer IV(70), Jagdpanther, Jagdtigers, and even the monstrous Maus.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that's the Japanese side," PFC Arozov joked from across the room. No one reacts.

Then on the other side, it was much more organized, with Tigers and Panthers and… that's it.

 _Must be Carius_ , Katukov thought. They were the one with restricted payload.

" _Hometown, microphone should be active in 4...3...2.1!"_

Soon, the same screen with the drone's image was now showing a small window for audio that records the decibel changes. First, the sound was of static as the directional microphone calibrates. It soon toned down as the microphone finally catches its first dialogues.

"...対処部わじゃないです," was the first transmission sent, spoken by a feminine voice.

"Nuts, they're speaking in Japanese. Anyone's an interpreter here?" The room was silent on Katukov's question. "I see… Corporal, go ask the office to see if there's any Japanese interpreter, we've got some text that needs translating."

"Yes commander!"

"At least let's hope there's a interpreter down there too translating between the two.

"選択わじゃないです...西住まほ," The answer came, this time form a male.

"Curses…Carius guys are speaking Japanese too?" Katukov went. "Former Leader, you and your comrade got any special interpreter skills up your sleeve?"

" _Uh, that's a negative, Hometown."_

"So audio's useless right now… nevermind that. Keep recording for future records."

The conversation continued, with the tone in voice becoming more confrontational. Hints of exasperation and frustration sounded from the female's voice, but the male's voice remained constant; presumably someone on the high ground of this negotiation.

As this went on, another personnel entered the room. "Commander Katukov, Specialist Yadinov here sir!"

"Hello Comrade, you are our interpreter?"

"Yes, commander!"

"Okay, dialogue's in this headpiece here, listen in."

Yadinov then took on the headpiece onto his ear as he listened into the dialogue.

"...something about bargains…" He coughs, as if catching up.

" _I can't accept terms like that…"_ The female voice said.

Then the male voice spoke, _"Understand the position you are in, Nishizumi. We can just pack up and leave right now if we want; these dips in our finances are inconsequential. I cannot say the same for you, however."_

" _But-"_

" _My position on this matter is final. These are the terms for our business here in Sweden. I will give you ten minutes on this matter to decide. The future of Kuromorimine lay on your decision here."_

" _If I accept these terms… Kuromorimine might not have a future…"_

The figure speaking seems indifferent, as the drone live stream now showed the group parting ways as Kuromorimine were left watching the other move towards their closest Tiger tank and climbing atop. The tank then rumbled as it departed from the area.

"Focus on the remaining group," Katukov said as the directional mic aimed towards the Maho's group.

" _What's going on Captain?"_ One voice said.

" _That didn't end well, did it?"_ Another brash voice spoke.

" _...their terms are withheld,"_ Maho spoke.

" _What?!"_

" _They'll only accept this wager if they leave their terms withheld."_

" _But...that's going against a blank check."_

" _What could they do then if… we lose?"_

" _Honestly? Pretty much anything they want if they win."_

" _It's too dangerous Captain! We can't put the whole school at risk because of this!"_

" _If we don't do this, we're done for either way."_ Silence filled the group as they compose themselves. " _Don't worry girls, we're better than this. We come across an obstacle, we strike hard and keep striking; just remain calm, and we can get through this."_

" _...understood Captain, we'll do our best with the maneuvers!"_

" _Get into position girls… and may luck be in our favor. I'll radio it in."_

Katukov listened to the course of event before being suspicious on the lead-up. "Oi, oi, oi. Are they about to start a tank fight?!"

"Uh, maybe?" Barov spoke.

Right on that note, the drone image made a small alert beep as it alerts the viewers toward new details in the video feed.

"Commander! We've got at least two whole Panzer Division down there about to go active!"

"Oh son of a-, get Former team out of there!"

* * *

 **West of town, France (Present)**

"And that's all that we've observed three months ago before we had to disengage," Erik concluded his story with a sip of tea. He clacked the empty cup back down onto its saucer. "That photo right there was taken one month ago from our inside source."

"That's it?" Miho asked. "That can't be it! Please, Erik, you've got to have more on what happened with Kuromorimine, you said you'd tell me everything you know!"

"Hold on, I believe the deal was specifically worded as 'if you want to know more about Kuromorimine' and 'we'll tell you all we know,' not 'we know everything about Kuromorimine,'"

"Yeah..., but-"

"You've got to look at the words carefully. No one waste words in wagers, especially when in comes with complying with them."

"Oh, don't bring those legal terms into this," Katyusha chastised. "You know very well the context of that deal when you sent that messenger to us, don't go chickening on us like chopped liver!"

"Calm down Drift," Erik said. "I've already told you all we concretely know about Kuromorimine with that photo there; everything else is my projecting our perspective and theories on this matter.

"Theories?" Miho asked.

"Yes, I've been thinking deep into the matter of this meeting, but I can't promise that it's all true though. However, if one analyzes the context behind Kuromorimine and Carius Academy meet-up at Sweden of all places, it becomes harder to say that they just happen to be there on coincidence."

"Well, Sweden has a very healthy tank development cycle going on in there," Kay said.

"But what relevance does that mean for their meeting? No, the reason is far more rooted if you look at the culture of Tankery, and its more...insidious sides with the world."

"Like how tankery is used more for military exercises than an actual sport?" Miho asked, recalling from Daniel Marshall on the topic.

"A bit like that," Erik conceded. "Tankery is so ingrained in the world culture now, it's hard to see whether tankery or culture is the one changing to suit the other's needs. There's proponents on both sides in current academics, but one for the latter view is on how traditional practices have become readopted as practices of Tankery. Such as in Sweden, one practice has resurrected in a form of high-stake wagers between participants."

"What practice?" Anchovy asked.

"No," Mika broke her silence as she stood up. "You don't mean… Holmgang?"

Erik clicked, "That's exactly right, missy."

"What's Holmgang?" Nishi asked.

"Holmgang… it's a… I thought it was just a rumor!" Mika sat back down, still shocked about the practice.

"Holmgang's a term for duels extending back to the early medieval ages in Scandinavia," Erik explained. "It may not be same as it was back then, but its been adapted used today for Tankery wagers. High-stake ones too."

"But it's not that big of a deal, is it? It's still like any gambling sites...right?" Kay said.

"Oh, you have no idea. Anything can happen in holmgang. In rumor, there's been lots of things put on the stake for holmgang: wealth, territory, equipment, disputes. What I listed may sound trivial to you, but I'm talking about literal countries betting what they have left in their treasury, their border lines, their very military, in tankery holmgang. In some cases, I've heard of some very prolific legal cases settled 'out of court' actually being settled under conditions of holmgang."

"That's a pretty big deal…" Anchovy thought on the implications.

"But why would they settle it with this practice?" Miho asked.

"Well Miho, when a country has in possession a bunch of tanks, and our very culture has created a sport around them, the culture of sport betting also comes over to tankery with their very loose legality lines. Those many countries that use them for holmgang? It's not surprising most of them are impoverished nations using what little resources they have to gain a few meters of land, a few gold bars, from holmgang if tanks are all they have to use."

"What business would they even have in Sweden then? If they are from so far?" Mika asked.

"Sweden is the second-best place next to Switzerland to resolve conflict between international groups. Holmgang is rarely practiced by the Swedes, it's everyone else who comes in for the act. The Swedes don't care, it's not their business to interfere; all they ask is that the institutions call ahead for a spot to resolve their differences. Everything else is off the records for them, unless someone dies; but that hasn't happened yet."

"If it's off the records… anything can happen," Darjeeling comments.

"But, Kuromorimine…, no, my sister doesn't have a reason to be involved with anything like that."

"Does she not, Miho?" Erik asked. "It isn't so surprising once you look at the finances and the economy revolving around Tankery.

"What do you mean?"

"Miho, do you know how much fuel a tank company of medium tanks need to move one hundred miles?"

"Uh, around 1,250 gallons of fuel?"

"1,250 gallons of fuel; nice, right on point. Let's wrap our heads around that, 1,250 gallons of fuel for a tank company to move 100 miles. That's already about 3,750 American dollars right there if we assume three dollars per gallon of gasoline. But that's for a tank company, about 17 tanks in your western organizations with medium tanks and those fun efficiencies."

The other girls at the table then turns to Kay, who realized late that the spotlight was on her in this conversation. "Uh… yeah! Those numbers, they sound about right. Yeah… no objections."

"Now, let's take Kuromorimine into the equation, a private school that primarily runs on German tanks that just simple _guzzles_ fuel like the embodiment of Tantalus. And not only that, but are operating _expensive_ German equipment with a spare parts and maintenance cost that just skyrockets."

"I've never seen any concerns of finances in my sister's view while I was still there. If it was that bad, surely it'd be a bigger factor in our financial meetings."

"Miho, Kuromorimine is a private school; it has the family wealth and influence behind it, but it still relies on sponsorships to support many of its programs."

"Sponsorships for the school?"

"Money from the outside of course. Investment! Kuromorimine was the long-running champion of Sensha-dou in Japan! People love to throw money at this success if they can get a bite of the popularity in return."

"It was a pretty big deal at that time…" Anzu reminiscence at the past.

"I wish we had that kind of money…" Anchovy glumly said.

"Still nothing on us," Kay replied.

"They had a steady thing going on with the sponsors; until the 62nd National High School Sensha-dou Tournament. of course…"

Miho's mind went cold when Erik mentioned that tournament.

"The 62nd… you mean…" Katyusha connected the dots.

"The 62nd tournament, the tournament where Kuromorimine's victory streak was utterly ruined by one little detail...sitting right across from me right now."

"Hey, that's a bit too much," Nishi defended Miho.

"Now, one defeat like this isn't actually a big deal despite the immediate fallout. Failures happen, institutions have recovered from worse setbacks. Then the 63rd National High School Sensha-dou Tournament rolls around, with Kuromorimine already in a precarious situation, and they lost again. Just to rub that in, its to the same person who caused their defeat last year, and from a no-name school that they outnumbered nearly three to one. What kind of impression does that give to the sponsors?"

"Nothing good, that's for sure," Anzu said.

"If Kuromorimine wasn't in danger of scraping the bottom of their barrel, they must've surely did when they deployed their tanks once again to your aid against that University team or whatever. A lot less than their usual, but far from affordable for an average operation."

Miho reflected on all of Kuromorimine's operations since she left. All of Kuromorimine's deployments from that point on… how much did it all really cost?

"Whichever the case, something had happened that caused Kuromorimine to want to settle a deal with Carius Academy under Tankery holmgang, despite their less-than-favorable bargaining position."

"A wager for finance?" Darjeeling asked.

"Indeed. Carius Academy does have finances for support, but assuming the case that Kuromorimine is indeed having diminishing returns and prestige, they don't have much to offer in return."

"Then...that would explain the unfavorable deal," Nishi said. "How dishonorable!"

"As they said, Kuromorimine was going against a blank check if they are staking it against withheld terms. If they win, they get their slice of the money to continue on; they lose, the blank is there to be filled with Carius Academy's desires."

"That is a lot you gave us Mr. Katukov," Anzu started, "But all we've got is your words on this matter, which may or may not even be the real context behind this photo you gave Miho. What's your proof for all this else?"

"I have none that I can give."

"So how can we trust this?"

"All I've given you is a perspective, my view of this situation that I've gathered from the information available on Kuromorimine and Carius Academy," Carius picked up his tea cup and pointed it towards Miho. "And I give you my theory from all the information here, Miho Nishizumi. Kuromorimine has a problem and they tried to solve it with Carius Academy under the conditions dictated by Holmgang at Sweden. And they lost, Miho. Kuromorimine has lost again. Now what exactly happened to them because of that, I don't know, but something did."

Miho processed this information carefully. Everything happened so fast; after being in the dark so long, she's finally gotten something out of it. But that something was just a photo and a perspective, and she became suspicious at the details.

"If it you need more correlation of holmgang happening," Erik adds, "'Holmgang' in Old Norse translates to meaning 'a stroll on an island.' Guess what sort of landmass Gotland is?"

"Forgive me, Erik," Miho said. "But it's really hard for me to think I got anything out of this at all."

"I don't expect anyone to take this information lightly," Erik said. "But that's what we commanders have to do, don't we? We use the information given to us and act on them. As I've explicitly said, all this is just a perspective, a theory, that I can't prove; but I personally find it convincing even if none of you all do. Besides, if you wanted more direct answers, your next opponent in this tournament just so happens to be one of the two parties directly affiliated with this issue. Perhaps ask them." As he said those words, he looked closely at a watch he had on his left arm. "Oh, how the time has passed. I'm afraid I must be off now."

"But Erik-" Kay tried to object.

"I've told you all I know, girls." Erik continued as he replaced his black glove over his prosthetic. "Any more time here is a waste in the productivity of Miho's search. I have other business I must attend to before I return to my cadets." He got up from his seat, with all the other girls in the table rising as well in formality. Erik walked around the mass at the bordering areas of the tent as he headed to the exit.

"Erik!" Miho called out, with him returning for one more glance. "...Thank you for your time."

Katukov smiled at this generosity. "It was an honor to fight against you, 'Legend.' May we meet again under more favorable terms." He said before he left the tent.

The girls were left inside as the lamp swayed in the air, the light still shining all-around.

"Well…" Anzu broke the silence. "That was something."

Miho watched as Katukov disappeared from her sight, then she raised the photograph back into view as she looked at the image of the Kuromorimine carrier in the vicinity of Carius Academy.

"What is going on, sister?"

* * *

"Once they all leave, pack up the tent." Katukov told the diligent cadets outside as they saluted his presence.

"Yes, commander!" They said. The lighting outside showed the approach of dusk as the sunset set the sky ablaze in a bold orange gradient. The shadows on the landscape broadened as the lowered sun shined laterally across the terrain. One stray cadet started running up towards Katukov.

"How'd it go?" Naydenov asked him.

"They took it well," Katukov answered. "She took it better than I thought."

"Sorry for leaving you alone in there, I'm not good around people. I prefer tanks, they're… a lot more quiet."

"No worries, Naydenov. Each of us have to approach situations whicccchhh-" Katukov stopped as the path had a tall girl standing in the middle, staring towards the coastline. Erik sighed as the two slowly approached this girl "-which we are most comfortable of…"

They slowly approached her, to which she turned to face her attention towards them. Her dark green jacket emboldened the red shirt underneath, just as her brunette hair highlighted her sky-blue eye color. Katukov approached with a hint of caution and admiration.

"Blizzard" Katukov said in Russian as he faced her. "...of Pravda."

"She's waiting," Nonna said as she gestured him towards the coast. From her pointers, he could see a lone girl standing closer the coast, her blonde hair flowing from the winds.

Erik took a breath, "Alright then… Naydenov, make sure no one interferes."

"Understood."

Erik pursued alone towards the girl, whose features became more pronounced upclose. As he got closer, he paced his steps, gauging his time to contact. As her hair fluttered, so did Erik's pale blonde strands as they waved around in front of his face.

As he closed to within hearing range, under the weaving winds from the sea, the girl turned towards him, alerted. She then quickly turned away, her arms closing up in signs of apprehension. Erik pursued on until he was within pacing distance from her, just out of arm's reach.

"Lovely sight, isn't it, Klara?" Erik attempted to break the ice as he stared out into the shining water that was the English Channel.

Silence above the waves permeated the atmosphere as the no eye contact was made. Erik looked over and saw Klara still tucking herself away.

He sighed, "So... still silent to your older brother?" The girl made a significant shiver on that note. Erik waited a few more moments before exhaling a deep breath. "Very well, perhaps next time," he said as he began to take his leave.

"Wait…" Klara finally spoke just as Erik made his first steps away. He stopped in place. "Is it really alright to call you brother, still?"

"Of course, we're family after all, Klara Katukov."

Klara turned around and faced Erik. "You shouldn't use that name anymore."

"Why?" Erik asked, slowly approaching Klara. "It is who you are, no matter what the two said."

"No… not that," Klara said, her voice audibly shaking. "How can you call me that after what I…"

 _Stop the bleeding!_ A voice cried out inside.

 _Who did this?_

 _The arm can't be saved, its ruined!_

Klara's eyes once again diverted away from Erik. Erik paused his movement as he felt a little ache at his right side. He moved the mechanical arm slightly, stretching and flexing the machine, to alleviate this feeling. "What happened in the past doesn't change our relation."

"But-"

"And what happens to the records doesn't change our blood lineage."

Klara seems comforted by his words. "You say that, but… you know that they won't let me back."

"Mother and father's words can land on deaf ears for all I care; what they did to you was unforgivable after the accident."

The voices returned. _How could she have let this happened?!_

 _Does she even know she's a Katukov?_

 _Such an embarrassment...honestly._

"They have every reason to," Klara timidly replied.

"No they don't," Erik continued. "As your brother, I find it disgraceful that our family pride has caused us to lose our compassion."

"Did it hurt then, when you gave me those papers transferring me away?" Klara asked Erik.

Erik was silent for a moment. "Yeah."

Klara sniffed, "Father was really eager to send me away after that."

"Actually… I was the one who got the paper and currency for you," Erik answered. "Father would have been satisfied with you freezing in the streets."

Klara's head seem to scrunch up even further within her uniform. "... so no one cares for me there anymore."

"Not now, no. But that's only because I'm here now." Erik was now right about in front of Klara, maintaining eye contact as he puts as much sincerity as he can to his words. He used his left hand and grasped Klara's shoulder. "When I'm back there, there will always be a place for you to call home in Mother Russia."

"You…" Klara said, a stiffle in her voice. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely, I promise that to you, sister."

Klara ducked her head. Erik could've sworn he saw tears, he gestured Klara closer and the two hugged. Klara held tightly as she held onto a source of deep comfort for her. She dug her head into his jacket as he patted her head with his warm left hand.

They stayed like this for a while.

Klara soon loosened up as her composure returned. He smiled back first, she smiled in return.

"How's that cover story working out by the way?"

Klara made a small laugh, "It wasn't needed at all. Ms. Katyusha barely looked past the city Novosibirsk before everyone accepted me in."

"'Drifting Snow' is a good girl for taking you in, and so is 'Blizzard.'"

"You do like using code names a lot…" Klara said, reminiscing.

"Like our young days… Well, you've changed definitely, you're not a tank driver anymore."

Perhaps a joke in bad taste as Klara's expression soured slightly. She cradled Erik's right mechanical arm slightly. "Does it still hurt?"

"There are worse pains than this."

"Everytime I feel the pangs inside, I always think it's because of the remnants of your arm."

"Does that not reinforce our familial bond?"

"...I guess so," Klara affirms.

A scuffle seems to start down the path Erik came up towards the coast. He glanced down the road to see Naydenov holding off a few other cadets. It seemed quite confrontational.

"We have so much to catch up on, sister," Erik said as the sun nearly finished its course down over the horizon. "But I must go now, my team needs me. So does yours."

Klara was saddened that the time to depart must come so soon, but she nodded in acknowledgement. "...one more hug?"

"A quick one," Erik said as they quickly embraced. "See you later, Klara Katukov."

"Goodbye, brother."

She released and he gave her a heartful smile as he started to walk away, he heard, "Erik!" and he turned around once more towards Klara. "Thank you, for everything."

"Your welcome."

He departed, with a concern that it would be a long time before he saw her again. However, urgent matters must now come first.

"Move it, Naydenov! I want to speak to him!" Yashin shouted at Naydenov, facing away so that he didn't see Erik approach.

"Commander has ordered me to not have him disturbed."

"Order rescinded," Erik said as he butted into the conflict. Nonna walked away upon Erik's arrival, heading up towards the coast to Klara. "Ah-" Erik tried to get her attention, but she was gone. He was disheartened, he wanted to say some more for Klara's sake.

"Commander!" Yashin butted close to Erik, Naydenov helpless to control him. "I have an objection to raise!"

"What happened to your eye?" Erik asked. Yashin's right eye area has a small black spot with a small spot that showed significant physical trauma. He covered it with his right hand upon it being noticed.

"Commander, how did you not exploit our strong initiative against them? Did you not know that you had every opportunity to eliminate Ōarai from the very start?!"

"I knew."

"Wha-? You _knew_ , commander?" Yashin said disbelieving. "You knew that and yet offered them mercy? Commander, this match is going to be aired in all international television regarding this tournament. How are you going to explain the commandment _and_ the public on your intentional sabotage of Suvorov's performance. What are you going to say about our position in this tournament, the world?!"

"Yashin," Erik straightforwardly said to him. "If D578CK's reporting is correct, it won't matter who wins the final, or even the semi-final. Once this tournament is over, Suvorov will remain as the top competitor in all of Tankery."

* * *

 **Very ironic how the summer break ended up too busy to write the story, while university time became my freest me for it.**

 **But bloody hell, I finally got a chapter out. I apologize for the long wait and am gonna apologize in advance in case the next chapter takes abnormally long as well to come out.**

 **I've gotta thank user _Lightarc_ for constantly keeping in touch with me on the progression of the chapters. Honestly, I feel like I would've been so busy it would have just dropped from my list of priority; but he kept me in touch about that and I was encouraged to keep the story going at a pace I can afford it too.**

 **Not to say that the pacing between the last and this chapter would be a norm, just that Summer was a new form of busy with an internship. University actually provided me a lot more time in the day to write than Summer, so I'm gonna step up the paces for these chapters as we are heading into the climatic moment of this plot.**

 **There's a lot of old and new readers that have joined this story in between these chapters, and I want to say thank you everyone for your support. I really appreciate it, to see this fanfic still attracting new readers almost two years after I've started this puts a warm smile on my face.**

 **If you haven't already, please also _Favorite_ and _Follow_ the story for the fastest notification on whether I release a new chapter or not. Please _Review_ the story as well if you have the time, I'm always eager to hear what you think about the story.**

 **I look forward to seeing you all on my next upload!**


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